[Birds as carriers of human disease].

Birds can host a wide spectrum of pathogens. While in the air, sea or on the ground they can carry ticks on their skin and microbes in the intestines (campylobacter, salmonella) or blood (viruses, borrelia spirochetes and protozoa). The high body temperature favors the growth of Borrelia garinii (causing neuroborreliosis), Campylobacterjejuni and certain viruses. Viral infections carried by birds include West Nile-virus and Japanese encephalitis, Newcastle disease and flu. Less studied are infections of the birds themselves, like bird malaria. Infections can be prevented by avoiding contacts to feces, vector animals (ticks and mosquitoes) and by hygienic food processing.