MIGRATING BIRDS AND BIRD FLU

Tanzanians have cause to worry about ‘bird flu’. The country is at risk because of migrating birds which have a major stopover in Tanzania. Jasson John, a Birdlife Officer with the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania was quoted in The Express as saying that migrating birds from the North usually make a brief stopover in Nnorth Africa before coming to the East African coast between September and December, on their way to South Africa. The big threat was that the disease might be borne by water birds particularly those in the duck family as Tanzania has good habitats for such birds…The other threat is the presence of house crows that scramble for food and may easily interact with these migrant birds in coastal areas. He said the virus was found in the mucous of the birds. In rural areas people shared rooms with domesticated birds and depended greatly on birds as a source of food.

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