H5N1, the strain of bird flu that can hop from bird to human, has now been found on not one but two farms in the city of Iksan in the North Jeolla province (Jeollabuk-do/Chollabuk-do, depending on the transliteration) here in South Korea. If you look on the map below, you will see that this area is located to the west of Daegu (spelled Taegu on the map), where I live. Sigh.
But where do the cats and dogs fit in? Well, in what many scientists have deemed an overreaction, cats, dogs and pigs in the area near the infected farm sites will be destroyed.
Some 600 dogs, as well as cats and pigs, are reportedly due to be slaughtered in Iksan. A city official said dogs bred on farms for consumption would be killed, but another anonymous official told the Associated Press the cull would cover "dogs raised individually in houses." [article]
Here's some info for you about cats and bird flu; haven't found anything yet regarding dogs:
There have been no recorded cases of cat to human infection from the virus. Cats do not have their own influenza virus (unlike humans or poultry) so the concern of cats acting as a host in which the virus changes to become transmissible between people is extremely unlikely. Furthermore, there is limited evidence of cat to cat transmission of the virus in a non-laboratory environment. [read Your Cat and Avian Flu at avianinfluenza.org]
5 comments:
Boooo. Why are people always hating on cats?
I mean, maybe I was hating on my cat when she woke me up at 5:30 this morning to feed her. But you know.
Wonder if they are going to kill all of the wild birds in South Korea as well. After all birds are the main source of the virus at this time!
Nice blog Jane, and great photos as well :)
We have added the " Another farm hit with bird flu, and Korea takes it out on the puppies and kittens " post of your blog to the Best-Bird-Flu-Blogs sections of our site.
The-Best-Bird-Flu-Blogs-team.
www.birdflubreakingnews.com
On the other side is the fact that no person in South Korea has come down with bird flu. There have been no reported human cases of it.
As far as the slaughter of 600 dogs, as well as cats and pigs -- that is unfortunate. That gets into the question of how much a human life is worth. Is it worth the death of 600 dogs to eradicate any chance whatsoever that this could enter the human population, so as to prevent a very tiny chance of a human death? I don't know. That is a pretty hard decision.
What I think is much worse, though, is the euthanasia of over 5 million dogs a year in the U.S. because of behavior problems. That is something that is mainly of the fault of either (1) the owners who do not take the time and trouble to train them properly or (2) the inbreeding of the dogs (well, okay, maybe the people, too). Both are very preventable and have even less to do with risks to the human population.
Scary stuff. Poor cats and dogs. Especially poor cats. I'll keep my fingers crossed against epidemic.
i just bought your vladimir calendar. will send it to my host family in Vladimir. I think they will appreciate the artistic look at vladimir and i recently decided to dispense with the purchase of really stupid greeting cards when there are so many cool cards in the world with local photos...anyway, they charged a whopping 8 bucks for shipping. will you get to see any of that?
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