Juan Lubroth Man Quotations

We don't have a spread of the virus, what we have is the introduction of the virus into countries of the European Union. The difference is that it's human activities, through commerce, through the market place, through the way we raise our poultry that we get disease spread. The fact that in Europe, in many countries, it's been picked up in migratory birds, is very, very relevant, it means that the European authorities -- Italy, Greece, Germany, Denmark, Austria -- are monitoring, doing active surveillance in the wild bird population.

It's very easy to blame bird migration, because then no one's responsible. Migrating birds may introduce the virus into an area, but it is human activity that spreads it.

This is unlikely to make any significant contribution to the protection of humans against avian influenza.

I think that wild birds may introduce the virus but it is through man and man's marketing systems (the poultry trade) that the disease spreads. It is also possible that poultry can transmit the virus to wildlife when they share the same ecosystem.