UK: Remarkably Healthy Birds

Assurances that the lone Fife swan is the only one in the UK to test positive for the H5N1 virus should be welcome news to all.

Unfortunately, the testing methods used by DEFRA to check for the virus may be badly flawed. Last December, more than 3,000 wild birds were tested for ordinary influenza, and only 2 were found to be carrying the pathogen.

Nice, except normally you'd expect between 7% and 10% to test positive for some kind of influenza. DEFRA only picked up a rate of .06%. That is 1/100th of the expected value.

What goes on here?

The collection technique advocated by DEFRA is to swab a bird's behind, and place the swab in a refrigerator while it awaits testing.

According to most scientists, the swab should be immersed in STERILE SALINE and FROZEN, prior to testing. To simply place the unsoaked swabs in the refrigerator is to invite the swab to dry out, and to kill any virus before testing is begun.

While the technique is use is unlikely to detect H5N1, or any other virus, the good news is that officials can proclaim that all tested birds came back negative.

Not to be outdone, Indian testing labs have admitted that that nearly all of the samples collected in the field have been poorly collected, making testing impossible. Most are disposed of without even attempting to detect the virus. Yet this has not stopped officials there from announcing that all tests were negative.

All of this has a bit of a Monty Python edge to it. I almost think one of my old doctors now works for DEFRA. He said he couldn't cure me, but he did offer to touch up my X-rays.