How did the avian flu spread from Asia to Europe?
The disease can spread from country to country through international trade in live poultry. The current opinion is that migratory birds could possibly carry the virus for long distances. Their role in spreading of low pathogenic avian influenza is confirmed, but their role in the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) is less clear. Wild ducks are the natural reservoir of bird flu viruses. These birds develop only mild and short-lived illness themselves. They could carry the virus over great distances, and excrete it in their droppings, as such spreading the virus to other areas. Chickens, domestic ducks, turkeys, geese, and several other species raised on farms are susceptible to this virus that causes lethal infections. Another way Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza can be spread is by the movement of commercially kept birds, movements of waste products of birds, by contaminated clothes of people moving from farm to farm and by smuggling of infected birds. This is why bio
