"BAC" wrote in message
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"Alan Holmes" wrote in message
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"Walt" wrote in message
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Squirrel pox is said to have been carried over the border by grey
squirrels migrating north from Cumbria.

Red squirrels with the virus will suffer skin ulcers, lesions and
scabs, with swelling and discharge around the eyes, mouth, feet and
genitals.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4093856.stm

Will it cross the species barrier?

And, more importantly, will the grey squirrels suffer the same fate?


Not unless the virus mutates into a form which is far more deadly to them.

Let us pray that it will mutate!

Alan

After all, if the existing virus had a similarly lethal effect on greys as
it did on reds, the greys would have been dying off in droves for the past
twenty years, and probably not spreading north to pass it on to the reds.