27 June 2012 | EN
Scientists say raising poultry in the desert will reduce the risk of bird flu transmission
Flickr/Eveline314
[CAIRO] Egypt's Desert Research Center (DRC) has called on the government to support rolling out poultry farms in desert regions, following the success of a pilot project to reduce avian flu transmission to humans.
The project ran from December 2011 to February this year, on five small units in the Egyptian desert. Researchers adopted procedures that helped avoid the transmission of infection, introduced indigenous desert plants into poultry diets, and evaluated varieties of poultry capable of resisting hot temperatures and drought.
Ismail Abdul Jalil, a former DRC president and leader of the research team that implemented the project, told SciDev.Net: "With the emergence of the avian flu virus in Egypt four years ago, the idea of moving poultry farms out of residential areas was raised, as having farms adjacent or close to housing was one of the main reasons why the virus was … being easily passed from poultry to humans".
At a meeting last month..
http://www.scidev.net/en/health/bird-flu/news/farming-poultry-in-deserts-may-reduce-bird-flu-risks-.html?utm_source=link&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=en_news