• Search

• Recently Written

  • Do you want to buy a house now?
  • Debt consolidation loan pitfalls
  • Debt consolidation loans - why they can be a good idea
  • Pensions - the government proposes more damaging changes
  • House prices may fall according to the IMF
  • Conservatives to scrap Home Information Packs
  • Home information packs are forcing people to think about energy efficiency
  • Buy to let mortgages are still going strong
  • Gloomy news about house prices
  • The secret that can save you thousands of pounds when buying a new car

• Categories

  • Finance
  • Home Loans
  • Technology
  • Personal
  • Films
  
  

• Archives

  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006

• Blogroll

  • Money High Street
  • Money Beacon

• Admin

  • Login
  • XML Sitemap

I am beginning to wonder if avian flu is predominantly a disease that affects asian countries.

We read today that Hungary is removing its bird flu restrictions as no new cases have been found. Scotland, too, no longer has any avian flu restrictions, and the small outbreaks in France and Germany seem to have been contained very effectively.

Elsewhere, though, both Pakistan and India are suffering serious outbreaks of bird flu and Afghanistan now has it throughout the whole country.

If I am correct, then it probably is not down to weather and environmental factors, but down to the social and economic conditions in these asian countries, notably in rural areas.

Poverty forcing people to live in close proximity to their chickens, markets overflowing with thousands of live fowl, and lower standards of animal care make these countries a breeding ground for the H5N1 virus.

These conditions don’t exist in other, more affluent countries, making an outbreak more easy to contain.

Of course, many african countries share similar conditions to those in Asia, however we are hearing less news about avian influenza in those countries, other than Egypt, and I’m not sure why that is.

For Westerners this might well be good news, however we must remember that bird flu is having a major economic impact in those asian countries infected with it. I have been receiving some emails from people in Indian and Pakistan who testify to this.