Researchers have found chickens that seem capable of
resisting avian influenza.
Colin Butter of the University of Lincoln in England has
found some birds that are completely unable to initiate or sustain a chain of
infection.
They do pick up avian influenza, but the virus only comes
out of their breathing and only for a short time, not in their faces.
That means it doesn’t spread through the flock.
“The prospect of breeding birds with natural immunity to
influenza virus would certainly widen the scope of existing control measures
and perhaps limit the risk to the human population of the emergence of pandemic
viruses,” said Butter.
Birds that were susceptible to the disease also shed virus
in feces and over a longer time. The researchers determined this was the only
relevant means of spreading the virus.
