Can I catch avian flu from feeding wild birds?
Several calls to MCAS indicate that some people may be worried about catching bird flu from the wild birds at their feeders. Sometimes even a shred of misinformation can get blown way out of proportion. Before you know it, people have stopped feeding wild birds. Said Juan Lubroth of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization s Animal Health Service, To date, there is no scientific evidence that wildlife is a major factor in the resurgence of the disease in the region, which, at the time, included China, Thailand and Vietnam. Several sources, among them the World Health Organization and the National Wildlife Health Center, report that to date the disease has been mostly limited to flocks of domestic birds, primarily ducks and chickens. The Food and Agricultural Organization proposes that the primary factor in the spread of the disease has been poor hygienic practices by Asian poultry farmers. Human infections have been limited to people who were closely associated with poultr
