Is there increased risk of Bird Flu being transmitted to Humans where water is stored in a tank in the loft?
This is where I first became aware of the potential problem (under 'Dead Birds'):
Compared with what?
This is compounding one infinitessimally small probability with another. Net result is asymptotic to zero.
However, I did hear that the NHS was running out of flu vaccine because of the large number of parrots visiting GP surgeries.
As no one in the world knows the answer to this question, as no one knows how bird flu might be transmitted, your only honest answer is "don't know" - but I'd be willing to hazard "no". Better odds that National Lottery bird flu will be transmitted to human flu in SE Asia and will reach us human to human.
the bird bath from the garden.
Yes! Run for your life! Sweet Jesus, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!
marc
I like your web site and I hope you achieve your aims. Good luck. pete
The fit and "with-it" old bat nextdoor has just installed another birdbox and new "continuous" feeder. Dozens of sparrows and many PIGeons come there every day. I counted 25 PIGeons in her 50' Ash tree yesterday. This in spite of a council circular asking people NOT to feed PIGeons as they can breed up to 12 times a year if food supply allows it and are a health risk!
Bleach in the tank? Why? Do you not drink that water?
Marcus
"Pachiderm" asked:
infected with avian flu was imported from a country where birds have become infected with this flu, such as Japan, South Korea, south-east Asia, China, South East Russia or Kazakhstan, and placed in the cold water storage tank in your loft, and you were unaware of this, then in theory use of this water may pose some risk from bacteria and viruses carried or produced by the decomposing carcase. Whether this includes the avian flu virus, I don't know. Perhaps your local veterinary surgery or water company can clarify this. Do you know someone from Japan, China or Russia who has a grudge against you? What is the likelihood of someone gaining access to your loft space, whilst carrying a dead, imported, avian-flu infected bird, without either your permission or knowledge? I have to say that if the dead bird was a chicken then that would be a fowl deed.
So why stop making stupid suggestions? For your pesonal health there is far greater chance of many other diseases - and a much better chance of winning the National Lottery. The worry over avian flu is **not** connected with the possibility of bird flu transmitting to humans in the UK. Any sane statistician would be very willing to take money off you to insure you against such a possibility - and if they did they would be operating a sure scam. Anyone who raises the problem of bird flu as anything other than either: a problem for birds in the UK, or a problem of a pandemic if it changes to human flu in SE Asia, is either ignorant or seeking to commit some fraudulent act based on groundless fears.
I usually approve of deep sarcasm but in this case it is not the right approach. People really are afraid of bird flu when the real worry (and it is
*very* frightening) is not that someone outside SE Asa will catch flu direct from birds (less likely than winning the Lottery) but that the virus will transform over there into something like the 1918/19 virus. The latter is a near certainty and there is a chance that it will be even more lethal.If you want rational fear of something that flies be afraid of aircraft. That's how you will catch flu - by international air transport moving millions of people around the world and spreading flu carriers before we know it's possible to transmit human to human. By that time we will be counting the percentages and it may make the Black Death look like a pussy cat.
John Cartmell wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@cartmell.demon.co.uk:
Flu aside, the whole notion of dead birds in your water tank is something I personally would rather avoid.
Martin.
In message , Martin Milan writes
Martin, here is something for you not to think about then. My fathers hot and low pressure cold systems started to run slowly, when he looked in the storage tank in the attic he saw a piece of "string" stuck in the outlet near the bottom of the tank. As he pulled the "sting" out he found a rather decomposed rat on the end of it.!!! Don't even try to imagine how long it had been there.
Quite true - and a nasty & disgusting probable source of infection. Just not likely to be flu! ;-)
No.
Yes, the black death moved at a slow pace. Quick travel means that any easily communicable disease can be spread very quickly. By the time someone figures out there is a problem, can be hundreds of thousands of carriers spreading all over the world.
Had a look at my own water tank the other day. No way I can see a bird to get into it, dead or alive. Perhaps others who are concerned about dead things getting into the tank can fit some sort of cover?
Martin <
None whatsoever, you are more at risk of 'pigeon fanciers lung' if your loft is full of birds:
Building regulations require all water tanks to be fitted with a lid. [There is also no requirement for bathroom water to be fed directly from the mains. That requirement only applies to kitchen taps].
What is really frightening those involved is the high mortality rate and the fact that the cross-species version is killing healthy people because the body's defences go on overdrive. Coupled with the fact that we are likely to get a more virulent version than ever before - international travel means that those who become ill are more likely to be just a few steps from the source - and we have the potential for the worst ever pandemic.
But nothing to do with dead (or live - birds in your loft or your garden. Removing bird baths and feeders will only mean that you won't be able to look out on pretty feathered dinosaurs as you breath your last.
I'm not so sure the 1918/19 virus had a very quick "knock down", a matter of hours, and you could be dead inside 48...
Agreed though that the rapid transport of huge numbers of people around the globe is going to be a major route for non-symptomatic carriers.
But what ever it's all speculation ATM until the virus makes the jump to a human human transmissable form we don't know how bad, or not, it is going to be. About the only certainty is that it will make that jump, sometime.
The media frenzy of two weeks ago got to your then ?
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