Pond fertilizer may help spread bird flu

LONDON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Fertilizing fish ponds with poultry feces to promote fish growth -- a common practice in Asia -- may set up reservoirs of bird flu, say British researchers.

BirdLife International -- a Cambridge, England,-based umbrella organization for bird protection groups in 100 countries -- says if chickens infected with bird flu are providing the manure for fish ponds, that could be how the new potentially deadly strain of avian influenza, H5N1, is being spread, reported the Independent Wednesday.

BirdLife says outbreaks of H5N1 have occurred in locations in China, Romania and Croatia where there are fish farms.

The Chinese outbreak of H5N1 that took place last May at Qinghai Lake -- an integrated livestock fish farm -- involved bar-headed geese, leading to speculation that the virus was spread via wild birds.

"This outbreak helped lead to the widespread media speculation about wild birds spreading H5N1," said Richard Thomas from BirdLife. "We pointed out that bar-headed geese migrate from India, where H5N1 has never occurred, and migrate early, so they must have contracted the disease locally, at Qinghai."