Wade Barker - The Battalion A chicken sits in its cage at the Poultry Science Center. The University is taking the necessary precautions to protect its animals from bird flu, said John El-Attrache of the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Students at Texas A&M face little danger of the avian flu, regardless of the widespread concern about the virus, said John El-Attrache, an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The Resident Hall Association issued a question and answer package to students about the virus in response to the outbreaks in Europe and Asia. The package was intended to answer students' questions, but not because of any specific or immediate threat to A&M, University officials said.

"We decided to send it out to provide information on a hot topic that people pretty commonly want to know about," said Michael Krenz, assistant director of Residence Life Risk Management. "We did it when meningitis was such a problem, and when West Nile broke out. We just wanted to save students a lot of running around looking for information."

A statement issued by The National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense (NCFAZDD) last year said that avian flu is not usually considered a disease that is easily transmitted to humans, but since December of 2003 there have been more than 100 documented cases of the H5N1 strain, the strain that causes the avian flu in humans.

The statement by Matt Voss of the NCFAZDD also said that while it is possible for H5N1 to cross over to humans, it is extremely rare and has not shown that it can pass from human to human.

"It's a problem, everything is interconnected, and it has the potential to spread," Daniel Hadyen, a sophomore wildlife and fisheries science major, said. "As far as the risk goes for us (humans) I don't think that it is too big, but I see the potential for it to be a large problem within the poultry industry."

El-Attrache said the University is taking the necessary precautions to protect A&M's animals from acquiring the virus.

"All of the animals in our poultry science program are kept in enclosed buildings and have no contact with wild birds," El-Attrache said. "We also practice our agriculture much differently than in other parts of the world. In Asia and Europe, most people keep backyard flocks, and they are all very close together, which can cause diseases to spread very rapidly. In Texas, most farms are separated by hundreds of yards if not miles."

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