Flu Symposium Day

Thanks to the efforts of Pica and many others, the avian flu symposium that the Yolo Audubon Society organized for today was a great success. Over two hundred people packed the Davis Senior Center for five hours worth of presentations and discussions. We can all use education in risk evaluation: even without a human pandemic, people will be reevaluating their interactions with birds, both domestic and wild. It seems quite likely that the high pathogenicity strain of avian flu H5N1 (not as yet mutated into a form capable of causing a pandemic) will arrive in North America shortly, perhaps this summer. Once this virus establishes itself in local bird populations, people will be reacting in sensible (washing hands more thoroughly) and not-so-sensible (in Italy, tens of thousands of poultry farmers are now out of work because people scared of avian flu have stopped eating chicken.)

The last speaker, who spoke about planning in the private sector, provided a link to an excellent mailing list that gives day-by-day reports on avian flu and other infectious diseases. This is ProMED-mail, sponsored by the International Society for Infectious Diseases. There’s a pretty high volume of messages on this list, but it’s fascinating stuff.