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Study suggests new manner in which bird flu can be transmitted from migratory birds

Bird flu, or avian influenza, in humans is often thought to be contracted through close unprotected contact with infected poultry or contaminated environments, but a new study has found another potential pathway through which it can be transmitted.

Habitat destruction – such as through deforestation in coastal habitats – may be bringing migratory birds in closer proximity to communities, facilitating the spread of the disease between the wild flocks and humans, a new study found.

Professor Dale Fisher of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, said the study is important as it suggests that humans are being exposed to avian influenza more frequently than thought. “This study means we need to look at avian influenza spread in a new way,” said Prof Fisher, who is also senior consultant in the infectious diseases division at the National University Hospital.

He said that while human cases of bird flu are said to have been infected by domestic birds and poultry, this study suggests that humans with no exposure to poultry yet live in the flight paths of migratory birds may have been exposed and had mild disease. While the method of transmission cannot be explained now, Prof Fisher said human encroachment of bird habitats due to urbanisation increases the level of interaction between humans and wildlife. The study may be a stimulus for increased surveillance for genetic mutations of the avian influenza, which may lead to human-to-human transmission, as well as research to understand the transmission methods, he added.

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