Bird flu and bird dogs

Bird flu and bird dogs

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
High Pathogenic Avian Influenza was recently found in wild birds in California, Oregon, Utah and Washington. That might lead bird hunters to wonder about transmission of this disease to other species, such as the bird-dog who retrieves an infected animal. Dr. Leslie Tengelsen, Idaho's Deputy State Epidemiologist. "If a hunter shoots either an infected duck or goose and sends his dog to retrieve the bird, the dog puts the burden is mouth and brings it back, is the dog vulnerable to contracting avian flu by virtue of contact? As far as the dog goes, a lot of these flu viruses tend to the species specific. I am not familiar with H5N2 which is the one currently in Washington state, whether that would be transmissible to dogs or not, but I suspect not. They don't tend to get a lot of the strains although I cannot say zero. I would say, however, highly unlikely. Birds carry bird flu all the time not just the kind that we are talking about right now but they get other more run of the mill types of flus all the time that are not transmissible to people so I would say the only thing to be concerned about would be making sure you wash your hands after handling birds and cooking your food thoroughly.
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