According to a recent study posted to the bioRxiv preprint* server, bird flu is spreading to farms via the wind. Researchers provided genetic evidence suggesting the feasibility of windborne transmission of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus.

The study specifically claims that long-distance infection and transmission via windblown pathogens is possible, but it does not definitively prove that that is how avian influenza is spreading. Researchers have implicated the wind before when trying to come up with an idea of how bird flu is spreading because culling isn’t working.

Infectious Disease “Experts”: Bird Feces In The Wind Could Spread Avian Influenza

Poultry farms represent significant air pollutant emitters. The pollutants vary in size, shape, and origin but generally comprise liquid droplets, gases, and inorganic and organic matter. During an HPAI outbreak, viral particles could be detected in the air and dust inside poultry markets or farms. While airborne transmission is the primary infection mode in poultry, contaminated air could contribute to disease transmission. The study also underscores that mechanically ventilated poultry houses may increase exposure risk by drawing in contaminated air from the surroundings, potentially facilitating infection even at low viral concentrations. –News Medical, Life Sciences

Germ Theory Vs. Terrain Theory: Why You’ve Likely Only Heard Of The First Theory

This study uses one example from the Czech Republic to declare that the wind is causing the HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) H5N1 virus to spread. It also admits that even though an entire flock of 50,000 ducks were executed, the bird flu spread to another farm.

Culling hasn’t worked to even slow the spread of this virus, and now that scientists admit it is endemic, there should be no continuation of the horrific practice.

Bird Flu Is Now Endemic

“It’s endemic in cows now. There is no way this is going to get contained” on its own, said Seema Lakdawala, an influenza virologist and co-director of the Center for Transmission of Airborne Pathogens at Emory School of Medicine. “There’s a lot of flu going around, and so the potential for the virus to reassort right now is high,” Lakdawala said. There’s also the possibility of reassortment within animals like cows now that multiple variants have been detected in herds, she pointed out.

Is this “airborne,” and if so, does culling work? Let us know what you think about the practice of extermination of entire flocks of birds.