Feds Collect Birds to Test for Avian Flu

Because wild migratory birds are not controlled by boundaries and are found throughout the United States, USDA and DOI are teaming up with states to collect 75,000 to 100,000 wild bird samples along with 50,000 environmental samples throughout the United States, including Alaska, the lower 48 states, and Hawaii, Guam, U.S. Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Alaska Science Center, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and Native partners and cooperators, has collected more than 11,000 samples in Alaska since April, 2006 and sent them to the USGS National Wildlife Health Center for testing. These samples were taken from 26 “target species” that, because of their migratory patterns and habitats, were determined to be most likely to have encountered HPAI H5N1 before arriving in Alaska. By the end of the 2006 sampling project, these partnering organizations anticipate collecting between 15,000 and 17, 000 samples in Alaska.

Of the more than 11,000 samples that have been lab tested thus far (as of late August 2006), approximately 113 have tested positive for some form of avian influenza (this is to be expected, since there are more than 100 forms of “bird flu,” most of which pose no threat to domestic poultry or humans and may not produce noticeable symptoms in wild birds.) Of these, nine samples tested positive for the H5 subtype, but in further testing were shown not to be the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. (Again, this is not surprising, since a number of H5 combinations, including the low pathogenic form of H5N1 found recently in the lower 48—which does not pose a risk to poultry or people—are known to exist in North American wild bird populations.)

The monitoring plan now has expanded elsewhere in the Pacific Flyway and Pacific Islands. The Service has finalized cooperative agreements with California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington as well as an agreement with Hawaii which will be completed soon. Thus far, these states and other cooperators have received $1.9 million from the Service to implement monitoring strategies in each state’s surveillance plan.