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Scientists check ducks for bird flu strain
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian
State and federal scientists are at work across Montana over the next few months, anxiously hoping they don't find what they're looking for.
The scientists are doing some sleuthing, capturing live ducks and testing dead ones to see whether a deadly strain of avian flu has made it to America.
?This surveillance is a way for us to determine whether the disease has made it here,? said Rose Jaffe, avian influenza coordinator for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. ?So far, it hasn't happened, and we hope it stays that way.?
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From now into December, the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, FWP and other agencies will take about 1,500 samples from around Montana. Those samples will be taken from a variety of places - national wildlife refuges, urban duck flocks and birds taken by hunters, Jaffe said.
?We parcel them out between the live trapping that we'll do at the urban ponds, hunter harvest samples and the banding programs on the refuges,? she said. ?It's important to spread out the samples.?
Wild birds often carry strains of avian flu - more than 140 are commonly found - but scientists are most interested in one particular and deadly strain, called H5N1.
According to the World Health Organization, H5N1 is one of the rare bird flu strains known to cause human infection.
?Of all influenza viruses that circulate in birds, the H5N1 virus is of greatest present concern for human health for two main reasons,? the WHO reports on its Web site.
?First, the H5N1 virus has caused by far the greatest number of human cases of very severe disease and the greatest number of deaths. It has crossed the species barrier to infect humans on at least three occasions in recent years: in Hong Kong in 1997 (18 cases with six deaths), in Hong Kong in 2003 (two cases with one death) and in the current outbreaks that began in December 2003 and were first recognized in January 2004.?
The second concern is even greater: that, given enough opportunity, the H5N1 strain ?will develop the characteristics it needs to start another influenza pandemic.?
The concern isn't so much that wild birds will transmit the disease to humans. Instead, the primary path of transmission has gone from wild birds to domestic poultry to humans.
And that's why scientists across the country are studying America's wild birds in what Jaffe called an ?early detection project.?
?There are some national plans in place if we do find it, but right now that hasn't happened,? she said.
For now, it's a matter of catching and testing ducks for the disease. And one of the places where ducks will be rounded up is right here in Missoula, in the Children's Fish Pond near the corner of Southwest Higgins Avenue and Bancroft Street.
Jaffe said ducks there will be captured in swim-in traps, tested and released unharmed.
The public can help with the trapping project by not feeding the ducks when the traps are in the water. They won't be there every day for the next three months, but they will be present from time to time. They're very noticeable, Jaffe said, and signs will be posted at the pond's information kiosk, as well.
?It's not easy to catch the ducks anyway, but it's especially hard if they're being fed,? Jaffe said.
In general, wildlife managers prefer that folks don't feed any wild animals, but in this case they're just asking people to resist the urge to feed ducks until the project is over.
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com.
By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian
State and federal scientists are at work across Montana over the next few months, anxiously hoping they don't find what they're looking for.
The scientists are doing some sleuthing, capturing live ducks and testing dead ones to see whether a deadly strain of avian flu has made it to America.
?This surveillance is a way for us to determine whether the disease has made it here,? said Rose Jaffe, avian influenza coordinator for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. ?So far, it hasn't happened, and we hope it stays that way.?
*
From now into December, the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services, FWP and other agencies will take about 1,500 samples from around Montana. Those samples will be taken from a variety of places - national wildlife refuges, urban duck flocks and birds taken by hunters, Jaffe said.
?We parcel them out between the live trapping that we'll do at the urban ponds, hunter harvest samples and the banding programs on the refuges,? she said. ?It's important to spread out the samples.?
Wild birds often carry strains of avian flu - more than 140 are commonly found - but scientists are most interested in one particular and deadly strain, called H5N1.
According to the World Health Organization, H5N1 is one of the rare bird flu strains known to cause human infection.
?Of all influenza viruses that circulate in birds, the H5N1 virus is of greatest present concern for human health for two main reasons,? the WHO reports on its Web site.
?First, the H5N1 virus has caused by far the greatest number of human cases of very severe disease and the greatest number of deaths. It has crossed the species barrier to infect humans on at least three occasions in recent years: in Hong Kong in 1997 (18 cases with six deaths), in Hong Kong in 2003 (two cases with one death) and in the current outbreaks that began in December 2003 and were first recognized in January 2004.?
The second concern is even greater: that, given enough opportunity, the H5N1 strain ?will develop the characteristics it needs to start another influenza pandemic.?
The concern isn't so much that wild birds will transmit the disease to humans. Instead, the primary path of transmission has gone from wild birds to domestic poultry to humans.
And that's why scientists across the country are studying America's wild birds in what Jaffe called an ?early detection project.?
?There are some national plans in place if we do find it, but right now that hasn't happened,? she said.
For now, it's a matter of catching and testing ducks for the disease. And one of the places where ducks will be rounded up is right here in Missoula, in the Children's Fish Pond near the corner of Southwest Higgins Avenue and Bancroft Street.
Jaffe said ducks there will be captured in swim-in traps, tested and released unharmed.
The public can help with the trapping project by not feeding the ducks when the traps are in the water. They won't be there every day for the next three months, but they will be present from time to time. They're very noticeable, Jaffe said, and signs will be posted at the pond's information kiosk, as well.
?It's not easy to catch the ducks anyway, but it's especially hard if they're being fed,? Jaffe said.
In general, wildlife managers prefer that folks don't feed any wild animals, but in this case they're just asking people to resist the urge to feed ducks until the project is over.
Reporter Michael Moore can be reached at 523-5252 or at mmoore@missoulian.com.