# 1434
As far as we know, human infection from wild birds doesn't happen very often, but it isn't unknown either. In Azerbaijan in 2006, 4 young girls were apparently infected with H5N1 while gathering swan feathers.
And in 2006 a study found 3 people (out of 107 tested) - a duck hunter & 2 Members of Iowa's Dept of Natural Resources - had antibodies for the H11N9 bird flu virus. All three were healthy, and all 3 had numerous exposures to waterfowl over the years.
So while rare, wild birds can be a vector of bird flu viruses to mankind.
Today Vietnamese authorities are investigating the possibility that the young boy who died in December may have contracted the H5N1 virus from wild birds.
Vietnam Bird Flu Victim Infected by Wild Bird, Tuoi Tre Says
By Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen
Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnam's fifth reported bird flu victim this year may have caught the virus from a wild bird, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing an official at the country's veterinary office.
The victim's family brought home some wild birds from a hunting trip, the newspaper said, citing Van Dang Ky, chief epidemic official at Vietnam's Animal Health Department.
All samples from poultry in the area where the victim lived tested negative for the lethal H5N1 avian influenza strain, Ky told a national conference on bird flu control in Hanoi yesterday, according to the report.
The four-year-old boy from the mountainous northern province of Son La, who died on Dec. 16, was confirmed positive for the deadly viral disease, Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the health ministry's department of preventive medicine, said on Dec. 27.
While wild birds may be the logical, perhaps even the likely suspect here, one hopes they are also thinking about other possible vectors. This infection needn't have necessarily come from a bird.
We know that dogs, cats, and other mammals (including man) can carry the virus. Some studies have even implicated flies as possible vectors.
If you are playing the odds, then yes, the likely source was a bird of some kind.
But as any racetrack tout will tell you.
Long shots sometimes come in.
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