do birds carry dieses – Helium Zone

Question: do birds carry dieses
- Keywords:
  bird,
  disease
Asked by Salim to Jonathan, Kellie, Kevin, Melissa on 4 May 2016.
- Kevin Baker answered on 4 May 2016:
  
  Hey Salim.
  
  Yes, birds do carry diseases. For example, the bird flu comes from birds! All sorts of parasites can live in their poop as well.
- Melissa Wilson Sayres answered on 4 May 2016:
  
  Yep! We can see transmission from water fowl to domesticated fowl (like chickens) to humans. And back. Diseases that can spread between different species are called zoonotic.
- Jonathan Jackson answered on 4 May 2016:
  
  I also wanted to add that sometimes animals carry bacteria or viruses that do not harm them, but can be harmful to us. And vice versa. So sometimes it’s only a disease depending on which species gets sick from it!