Mon, Oct 24, 2005 (7:43 a.m.)

State and local officials are reassuring nervous Nevadans that despite all of the publicity about bird flu, they can feed wild birds around their homes, and they can eat cooked chickens and turkeys without fear of catching any avian diseases.

The state's Wildlife Department had recommended in May that feeders be removed from yards because a parasitic disease had killed doves, pigeons and some other wild birds, primarily in Northern Nevada. Officials blamed the spread of the illness on birds congregating at feeders and water sources.

Then world health officials reported that a deadly bird flu -- H5N1 -- had spread from Asia to Romania in poultry and wild birds. Health experts fear that the bird virus could mutate and create a worldwide pandemic among people.

Clark County Health District spokesman David Tonelli said he is now trying to spread the word that as long as you cook it properly, there is no reason to be chicken about fowl.

While the Health District has not been fielding a lot of area calls yet, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they have been handling an extraordinary amount of inquiries. CDC has received an average of 447,000 hits a day on its avian flu Web page.

That's more than the CDC received from people seeking the advice during the flu vaccine shortage last October or the West Nile outbreaks in 2003.

The latest bird flu has not been found in North America, and there has been no evidence of human to human transmission of bird flu.

This week Nevada officials said that feeding wild birds will not spread the avian flu.

Pamela Nickels of North Las Vegas said she feeds her birds, rain or shine.

"If it's raining, I'll be filling the feeders under an umbrella," Nickels said. A coordinator for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's backyard bird count for four years, Nickels said she and other local bird watchers count birds from November through April.

Dr. Anette Rink, state Agriculture Department veterinarian, said the parasite that caused the disease in Nevada birds is cyclical and dies off as temperatures drop.

And most important, the parasite does not spread to people, said Dr. David Thain, state veterinarian.

As for bird flu, that's even less of a concern right now because it has not been found in North America, Thain said.

As thousands of domestic chickens and ducks have been vaccinated or killed in China and Vietnam to prevent the spread of bird flu, the virus is basically following the pattern migrating water fowl take, Thain said.

Nevada has surveyed water birds and domestic fowl, such as backyard flocks of chickens and ducks, since summer 2003. Chickens kept near Nellis Air Force Base were infected with the Exotic Newcastle disease in January of that year. Birds in parts of Clark County and southern Nye County were quarantined for eight months until all signs of the disease disappeared, Thain said.

The latest virulent bird virus has infected people who live with their birds.

"An extreme closeness to birds can transmit the virus," Thain said.

The bird virus will have to change, or mutate, either within the influenza virus or swine flu bug before it can be passed from person to person, Thain said.

"There's no indication that has occurred," he said.

The simplest safeguards for preventing the spread of any disease, whether from birds or other people, include washing hands and cooking poultry. That means cooking that chicken or turkey to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, Tonelli said.

Not only will that temperature kill bird flu virus, but also more common types of bugs that cause stomach and intestinal upsets in people, Tonelli said. Salmonella poisoning is a common illness spread through under-cooked poultry, he said.

Washing hands before cooking and eating can also stop the spread of germs in their tracks, Tonelli said.

"There's no reason to be fearful of your local chicken," Tonelli said.

Mary Manning can be reached at 259-4065 or at manning@ lasvegassun.com.

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