Jack Kintner wrote,

> It's supposedly due to a salmonella virus that's retained in excrement and

> passed around as they flock closely and walk around in it.

Folks, please note that Salmonella are bacteria, not viruses. Salmonella
are part of the large family of enteric bacteria, including Escherichia
coli, that are common members of the intestinal flora of animals, so they
are abundant in bird feces. Yes, it is important to clean off the feces.
Since the infectious agents are bacteria, they can continue to grow slowly
in the excrement, outside the bird's body; it's hard to generalize about
viruses, because they come in a variety of forms, but many viruses would be
inactivated rather quickly in dried excrement.

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College 360-867-6755
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu

Reunite Gondwana

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