very appropriate technology for mass vaccination , page-6

re: clearly this is a major catastrophe that is ev Federal Department of Agriculture spokesman, Howard Conkey, said the Government was well aware the H5N1 bird flu virus could be brought to Australia by migratory birds.

"It's a potential risk. There's 50 million migratory birds that land in Australia from spring onwards," he said yesterday. "If there's 50 million there's a fair choice of species there.

"There's not a direct threat, but if shore waders came into contact with nomadic birds such as ducks and other water fowl it could potentially pose a risk because they can go inland and possibly pass bird flu on to production birds.