Indonesia is having no luck in linking H5N1 outbreaks in humans to chickens, no matter how hard they may try (and they have been trying).
Additionally, the genetic sequences from the poultry in Indonesia do not match the sequences from the human H5N1 cases. Human cases within clusters generally match each other, and to date the only animal sequences that have matched the human cases in Indonesia have come from a single feral cat found wandering near the site of a human cluster of infection.
What is the liklihood that mice or rats may serve as the means of transmission of H5N1 to humans in Indonesia? Have they done any testing on mice or rats, found either alive or dead, near the Karo or Bandung clusters?
Part of a paper from the journal Virology caught my eye. Have we ever seen any non-lab mice with PB2 627K in their sequences?
“Our data indicate that the amino acid at position 627 of the PB2 protein determines the efficiency of viral replication in mouse (not avian) cells, but not tropism among cells in different mouse organs. The presence of lysine leads to more aggressive viral replication, overwhelming the host’s defense mechanisms and resulting in high mortality rates in mice.”
Virology paper “PB2 amino acid at position 627 affects replicative efficiency, but not cell tropism, of Hong Kong H5N1 influenza A viruses in mice” is at: http://tinyurl.com/yxlfrw
Rats and Mice like to hang around chickens and livestock. A chicken will also eat a small mouse if it gets close enough. I’ve also read that the chicken houses in the US have prolems with mice & rats in their ventilation systems in the US so don’t think this would exist in just the “free range” chickens.
I am not qualified to discuss virology or other serious discussions, but I thought it was odd timing, since this article just came out today:
I don’t know if there is any coincidence, but we keep having mice in our house. It seems to be only one at a time, but every time we find a hole to plug, it finds another way in. We haven’t had a problem, (until the last 5 months), in the 5 years we’ve been here. We live on an acre, in the suburbs (not rural) of a good sized city - we were thinking that it had to do with drought, but I’m wondering if there is more to it. There is another, older article, from cdc, about plague being used as a weapon…I suppose h5n1 could be used, too. I know, time to retire my tinfoil hat, but here’s the link, if you want it:
It would also help explain why more cats are showing up with H5N1 - much easier for a cat to catch a small mouse than a large chicken with an attitude. Critters will be found anytime there is grain/food. Indo. would be no exception.
Rats and mice also travel closer to the ground … meaning they basically travel through the flotsum of the world. They are in most sewer systems as well. They are scavengers.
So, if they are around the chickens and other fowl scavenging for food that the birds missed … or even wading through the feces … then that would be another way for them to have contracted H5N1. Even if they didn’t catch it directly, they could contaminate large areas just from their nightly wanderings.
Kathy in Florida. You may have hit the nail on the head. How many of us now leave our shoes at the door so as not to track in bird droppings. The mice and rats with their underbellies and tails dragging in the droppings…They scamper all over everthing in their meandering search for food.
I know I must sound like a commercial for d-Con sometimes, but it looks like it’s time to buy some more. Or another brand. Or maybe d-Con and another brand or two.
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