Swine Flu In Chile Turkeys May Spread

The United Nations (U.N.) warned yesterday, that the swine flu that was recently detected in turkeys in Chile may spread to other poultry. The U.N. is thus urging greater monitoring worldwide in order to prevent the virus from combining with the deadlier H5N1 strain of bird flu. The U.N. said it would be quite concerned if swine flu were to combine with bird flu – which isn’t as contagious but is far more deadly.

Just last week, Chile announced that the swine flu virus had jumped to turkeys, thus raising new concerns about the ability of the virus to infect other species. It now means that the swine flu virus now has more opportunities to mutate into a more dangerous form. Officials stressed however, that the birds had suffered only mild symptoms, and were being allowed to recover (rather than be culled). It is also being stressed, that  the discovery of swine flu in turkeys does not pose an immediate threat to humans, and that turkey meat can still be sold commercially (following proper inspections).

In addition to Chile, Canada, Argentina and Australia have also reported a spillover of swine flu from farm workers showing flu-like symptoms to animals