The Smuggling Problem Part II
Although bird flu has now been detected on many farms in several African nations, there have been only a handful of reports of infections in wild birds on the continent, supporting the notion that trade is most important there.
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"We're been looking for it in wild birds for the last two months and it is surprising that we've come up with zero," Dr. Lubroth said.
The effect of smuggling can sometimes be direct, when sick birds are smuggled onto farms. The virus strain found on the farms involved in Nigeria's first outbreak, in northern Kano State, closely matched those found on Chinese farms, Mr. Hagemeijer said.
Nancy Morgan, an economist at F.A.O., said smuggling could have easily introduced bird flu into Nigeria and Egypt, the two African countries with the most extensive bird flu problems.
"In developing countries, the border controls are marginal at best," she said. "As long as there's economic incentive, it will happen."
Producers in Egypt and Nigeria frequently import day-old chicks for about 20 cents a bird, she said, because it is easier to buy them than to master the delicate technology of hatching. In Nigeria, all the chicks were smuggled and therefore not inspected, because all imports were banned by the government to protect a young domestic industry.
Poultry products can also bring the virus into a country: infected chicken parts in feed or fertilizer, secondhand cages once used to house infected birds, or cheap meat that ends up being used on a farm or in a home where other birds are kept.
The main concern is China, a country with a serious bird flu problem.
General Borghini, the Italian medical officer, referring to a type of dark-skinned chicken that according to traditional Asian belief has medicinal properties, said, "Black chicken is our big, big headache."
Several months ago, health inspectors in Milan noticed that all the Chinese restaurants in Milan bought their poultry from a single distributor. When they conducted a surprise raid at the warehouse of the distributor, Euro Food International, they discovered three million packages of meat from China.
In the United States, Dr. Moore, of the Kansas State University, worries particularly about poorly regulated markets in live birds that cater to Muslims and Jews who want poultry slaughtered according to religious custom.
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