BALTIMORE, April 5 (UPI) -- Johns Hopkins University researchers say they've determined business affiliations can increase the potential risk of farm-to-farm avian flu transmissions.
Researchers led by Professor Ellen Silbergeld in the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health examined the potential influence business connections between broiler chicken growers might have on the transmission of avian influenza.
The scientists said they found the risk of between-farm transmission is significantly greater among farms within the same company group than between farms with different company affiliation.
The scientists said their study is among the first to analyze the impact of company affiliation on the spread of diseases from farm to farm.
The research that included doctoral candidates Jessica Leibler and Marco Carone appeared in the March 26 issue of the online journal PLoS One.
