Lighting Up Chickens to Prevent Bird Flu Pandemics

Flu season is just around the corner. As winter approaches, the cold forces us into the warmth of our homes, where interactions with our fellow humans are magnified by increased close contact.

These conditions are ideal for the spread of the influenza virus, which is mainly spread by sneezes. A tear-inducing, room-resonating sneeze is a viral ejection of massive proportions. 

It starts with a tickling feeling in the nose, grows with each vain attempt at repression of the inevitable, and ends with the violent expulsion of as many as 40,000 projectiles traveling up to 200 miles an hour. Each droplet expelled into the room can contain as many as 100 million flu viruses. The virus-laden water bombs are also released in much less dramatic fashion when someone with the flu talks or coughs. After expulsion from the infected body, the larger droplets fall to ground, while the smaller ones can remain airborne for days. Most flu viruses are spread when these droplets directly enter someone's mouth or nose. It is a common misconception that flu infections come from touching doorknobs, handrails, etc. -- infection from droplets that have landed on a surface is fairly rare.

During the summer, we spend more time outdoors, where we are less likely to breathe in virus-laden droplets. Consequently, outbreaks of the flu are generally limited to the winter season. They peak in about three weeks and take another three to dissipate. In the period between 1976 and 2006, annual flu-associated deaths in the United States ranged from a low of 3,000 to a high of 50,000 people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, older people, young children, pregnant woman and people with asthma are particularly susceptible to flu viruses and are at greater risk for serious complications. The annual direct medical costs attributable to the flu in the U.S. average $10.4 billion annually, and the projected lost earnings due to illness and loss of life amount to $16.3 billion.

Continued:  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-zimmer/lighting-up-chickens_b_2199602.html

Taking Birds Off The Map

November 3, 2012

The U.S. Pacific Air Forces issued the following news release:

For almost one year now, Airmen 1st Class Marnell Dillingham and Jarrett Dowey have been cruising around the flightline three times a day, armed with a pail of bird scare ammunition and two shotguns. While out there, their role is to scare birds that fly too close to the flightline.

The two 35th Operations Support Squadron Airmen help reduce bird strikes on the flightline. According to Birdstrike Committee USA, these environmental hazards have been the cause of hundreds of deaths and millions of dollars in aircraft damages a year.

"Preventing bird strikes is one of the most important parts of our job," said Dillingham. "If a bird strike happens, it could put our pilots, crew members and passengers in a very dangerous situation. Birds have been known to cause aircraft crashes."

The Federal Aviation Administration receives annual reports recording thousands of wildlife related strikes. Strikes involving military aircraft cause approximately $75 million in damage a year.

In an effort to combat this environmental hazard, the Department of Defense pushes to improve aviation safety programs. One of these programs, the Bird and Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard prevention program, requires constant interaction among aviation safety members, air operation shops, pilots and aircrews.

"To ensure the safety of everyone, we coordinate constantly with the aircraft safety office, the supervisor of flying operations and the airfield control tower," said Dillingham.

There are two types of control measures, active control and passive control, said Dowey.

Active control is when pyrotechnic, bioacoustics and depredation methods are used to provide short-term relief. Pyrotechnics use BASH cannons, which produce loud, booming sounds to scare off birds in the flightline area. Bioacoustics, or the broadcast of local bird distress signals, is another way to provide immediate, although short-term, relief. Depredation allows Airmen to scare off birds that roost on the taxi-ways and cannons by shooting at them with shotguns loaded with bird scare cartridges.

Passive control measures involve environmental factors, such as maintaining grass height, smoothing out hills and eliminating forestry. Trees, shrubs and other plants can draw in wildlife for food, shelter and roosting sites for birds, so it's important to eliminate them from aircraft flying area. By smoothing out hills, it maintains the draining of streams in wet areas.

Continued:  http://www.avionics-intelligence.com/news/2012/11/03/taking-birds-off-the-map.html