# 400 Sheep Die in Mongolia--More Important Than It Sounds. Microbiologists?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400-sheep-die-in-mongolia-more-important-than-it-sounds-microbiologists/307441>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 8, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400-sheep-die-in-mongolia-more-important-than-it-sounds-microbiologists/307441 "2005-06-08T12:43:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400-sheep-die-in-mongolia-more-important-than-it-sounds-microbiologists/307441/1 "2005-06-08T12:43:31Z")

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Bird Flu can be spread by, well, by _birds_.

And it seems to have left SE Asia, & is spreading by birds, especially waterfowl.

[http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06070502/H5N1\_Sheep\_Mongolia.html](http://www.recombinomics.com/News/06070502/H5N1_Sheep_Mongolia.html)  
If this is true, we can expect a wider Human outbreak, soon.

We can quarrantine _people_ fairly well, but not migratory birds.

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**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/400-sheep-die-in-mongolia-more-important-than-it-sounds-microbiologists/307441/2 "2005-06-09T01:07:00Z")

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IANAMicrobiologist, but I think that if it’s actually bird flu, it actually sucks on _two_ levels, in that a)it’s spread so far, and b)it’s jumped to a mammalian species (and one that hangs out with people, too.) Once it’s mutated enough to easily infect a mammal, it’s much closer to being able to easily jump to/among people.