I received the following note in reference to my post recently on
the viral encephalitis case from Bend, Oregon.

Fred Bird


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Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 18:54:03 -0200 (GMT)
To: fredbird at halcyon.com
From: nesher at global.co.za (nesher)
Subject: Viral encephalitis and birds of prey

Fred, I got your message via a collegue of mine. Interesting and
quite sad
to hear this news. I work with lots of injured birds of prey,
particularly
Old World vultures, owls and eagles. It has always been troubling
me when I
would fall ill as a result of the birds of prey that I work with. I
did
contract psittacosis (chlamydia) three years ago and nearly came to
an end.
No one knows to thios date where I got the infection from since I
never work
with psittacines or doves, and birds of prey are not konown to carry
chlamydia. The interesting part about my work woth the vultures is
that I
get bitten virtually daily and never have I had any infectious wound
or
effects from these bites. I once got a puncture wound in my hand
from one
of my tame vultures and that turned into a real nasty infection. I
try and
avoid contact with the talons of birds of prey as their perches
often carry
a myriad of bacteria and virusses. If you are a raptor enthusiast,
please
keep contact. We are hosting the V World Conference on Birds of
Prey and
Owls in South Africa in 1998 and I would like to keep you informed
about this.

Best wishes from South Africa.

Sincerely,

Dr Gerhard H Verdoorn
Chairman of the Raptor Conservation Group
PO Box 72155
Parkview 2122
South Africa

Tel: 011-27-11-646-4629
Fax: 011-27-11-646-4631
Cell: 011-27-82-446-8946




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Fred Bird fredbird at Halcyon.com
Nancy Ashley nancyashley at Halcyon.com
1249 NE 92nd St. 206-526-5671 - v
Seattle 98115 206-5226557 - fax