SKY News is reporting that a French woman recently having returned home to Montpellier after a holiday in Turkey showing suspected symptoms of the Bird Flu virus has tested negative.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...209947,00.html

In a related story...

&quot;THE SKY IS <b><u>NOT</u></b> FALLING!&quot;



Best wishes,

Rex

It is news that a person did not have avian flu?

Don't sleep with the chickens or ducks.

There WERE reports that she had it, but they were premature.

article: http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,...-644973,0.html

Even if she did, it wouldn't have meant anything (from a public health standpoint - - not implying that the illness of any individual is &quot;unimportant&quot - - unless she imported the flock of birds... from whom she &quot;caught it&quot;... back to France with her.

And even then, it would only be important if she mixed them in with other flocks of birds in France... and if there are other flocks of birds nearby with which they might co-mingle... and if there were humans living in close proximity to those flocks of birds.

The stories about the bird flu deaths of those children in Turkey were alarming until we heard more details--then they became just plain depressing. The affected children were from poor families and their &quot;toys&quot; were the dead birds. They had been playing with the dead birds and the heads of slaughtered chickens. A sad commentary on what kind of life those children led. Anyway, given that the average tourist isn't likely to be playing with freshly killed chickens or those about to be slaughtered, the overall risk of their catching bird flu is still very remote.
Nonetheless, one has to worry about the impact it will have on poultry farmers, particularly organic/free range farmers. Already in Germany, free range farmers are now being asked (perhaps required) to keep all poultry indoors to minimize risk of infection from contact with wild birds.