Sparrows know how to avoid infected birds

House sparrows know how to detect and avoid sick birds, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences said on November 8.

The new discovery is considered useful for humans in monitoring and containing diseases transmitted from poultry.

Tests have shown that house sparrows, a native bird of North America, can tell the difference between healthy and sick birds in their flock.

(Source: lananhbirds.com)

The study, published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, is the first time scientists have discovered the ability to avoid infected individuals in birds, a similar trait that has been shown in lobsters, bullfrogs and tadpoles.

In addition, researchers have also discovered changes in the bird's immune system, which enhances its ability to fight off infection.

It turns out that birds with weaker immune systems, less able to fight off infection, are most likely to avoid contact with sick individuals.

This means that there are differences between how susceptible individual birds are to disease, how quickly they recover from disease, and how well they can overcome disease.

The key factors that determine whether and how long an infection will spread within a flock depend on the identification of individuals at risk.

This factor is of particular importance to humans in their efforts to detect and predict when and how these infections affect both poultry and humans.

The disease is spread through wild birds and congregates in areas of bird-human contact, posing a risk of bird-to-human transmission.

The World Health Organization said that from 2003 to August 2012, the H5N1 virus strain, known as dangerous bird flu, spread directly from birds to humans, killing 359 people in 15 countries, mainly in Asia and Africa./.

According to (Vietnam+) - VT