I'm curious, have they ever tried to infect American birds
with H5N1 in a lab ? Ducks, geese, swans ? mallard/Alberta , shorebird/DE ?
Or even test spreading in a controlled setting, a zoo or swannery
or small biosecurity-farm or just birds in cages in labs with
limited contact.
Considering the differences in species and avian flu viruses
in America vs. Eurasia, it looks quite possible that disease
and spread of H5N1 in America would behave differently
than in Eurasia. H5N1 might just not be competitive
with American flu-viruses which is adapted to native birds
since many decades. All Asian H1N1 viruses have genes quite
different from American influenza.
Once in America H5N1 could reassort with American flu, though.
However this rarely happened in the past.
with H5N1 in a lab ? Ducks, geese, swans ? mallard/Alberta , shorebird/DE ?
Or even test spreading in a controlled setting, a zoo or swannery
or small biosecurity-farm or just birds in cages in labs with
limited contact.
Considering the differences in species and avian flu viruses
in America vs. Eurasia, it looks quite possible that disease
and spread of H5N1 in America would behave differently
than in Eurasia. H5N1 might just not be competitive
with American flu-viruses which is adapted to native birds
since many decades. All Asian H1N1 viruses have genes quite
different from American influenza.
Once in America H5N1 could reassort with American flu, though.
However this rarely happened in the past.
Comment