I’m sorry but I just cannot shake my fascination with the bird flu.  Some would say it’s because I’m paranoid by nature.  I can’t help it …three words to describe me in a nutshell …paranoid, skeptical and worry-wart. 

Reports now out of London state a parrot has died of the H5N1 strain.  Jokingly I said aloud “I can understand the spread of this virus in the chicken community but how does a parrot in London contract the disease?” to which a co-worker of mine replied “hanging with the wrong crowd”.  It’s easy to poke fun of the situation as it’s not yet in the states and hasn’t claimed many human lives.  At the same time …it’s spreading.

So how does a parrot in the UK catch this virus.  It is said that the parrot was likely infected with the virus while in quarantine with birds from Taiwan.  This does not set well with me.  Tests that were performed on the dead Taiwanese birds were inconclusive.  INCONCLUSIVE!!  Let’s review.  There has been talk of bird flu in Asia, thousands of birds have died from this flu, this flu has spread outside of Asia and has killed birds in Europe.  With that being said, why would you let a quarantined parrot, sitting in Asia, out of quarantine when there are other birds dropping dead around it? 

This brings on a new concern, pet owners beware.  I don’t own a bird (and doubt I ever will after this) but I do have a bearded dragon and can say quite honestly that I have no idea of its origin.  Thankfully, there isn’t a deadly virus being spread via the reptile family (that I know of).   If I were an owner of a bird or was looking into it this would weight heavily on my mind.  What precautions are underway to make sure the birds that arrived from overseas are virus free?  Clearly, it’s not just the birds on the chicken farm that need to be watched. 

And so it spreads …