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The threat of mass deaths among South Africa's wild birds keeps looming larger as a variety of avian diseases, particularly Newcastle, take their toll.
There have been no cases of the fearsome H5N1 strain that has struck in Asia and countries in Europe and West Africa, and which has international health agencies on tenterhooks. But Dr Gerhard Verdoorn, director of BirdLife South Africa, is apprehensive.
He says the department of agriculture seems well equipped to handle problems in the poultry industry, having excellent protocols for dealing with outbreaks of Newcastle disease on chicken farms.
But what worries him is whether people generally would know what to do if H5N1 arrived here.
| 'When people see a dead bird they must not touch it with their bare hands' | Judging by the example of Newcastle disease, which affects poultry and birds, he is sceptical.
"It feels to me we are sitting on a time-bomb," he says.
In recent weeks there have been large-scale deaths, particularly among doves, from Newcastle disease. Reports of this have come in from various parts of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and the Free State.
There have also been some sparrow and guinea fowl deaths, but they could have received the infection from doves. The reason why doves in particular are susceptible is because they tend to congregate in large numbers, which allows the disease to pass more easily from one to the other.
The virus does not get passed on through the air. It gets picked up from manure or from mucous when birds cough or sneeze. This is why it can spread like wildfire on chicken farms.
It was first suspected in the mid-1990s that strains of the same paramyxo virus might be at work when Newcastle disease killed thousands of chickens in the Magaliesberg region, and vultures and owls also started dying.
It is not only the impact on wild-bird populations that concerns Verdoorn. He worries about the danger to people and how to persuade them not to touch dead or ill birds.
He fears, from past experience, that there might even be cases of people catching diseased birds or picking up dead ones to eat.
"Newcastle disease and H5N1 may not be related, but the trouble with the various types of bird flu is that the symptoms are so similar. It is typical for an infected bird to sit on the ground, breathe heavily and have its feathers slightly puffed and wings dropping.
"When people see this, or a dead bird, they must not touch it with their bare hands. If it is dead, pick it up with a plastic bag and throw it in a rubbish bin (incidents can be reported to him at 082-446-8946).
"People keeping birds in cages must be especially careful of transmitting viruses by touching ill or dead birds and their manure," he says.
Water birds, in particular, face another danger, called clostrydium botulinum - originating from sewage pollution of rivers or from rotting plants.
The latter happens when unusually warm spells follow good rains, as has happened this season, and water levels of dams and pans start receding.
Verdoorn fears a hot April could have this affect. He has seen birds die from it en masse at Barberspan, a major water-bird site in North West.
"The bird flu viruses may not kill all bird types, but some who do not get ill, may be carriers," he says.
- This article was originally published on page 8 of The Star on March 16, 2006
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