KC
Moderator
Alaskan bird droppings arrive
DAVID WAHLBERG
608-252-6125
dwahlberg@madison.com
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=85275&ntpid=1
The fecal samples from birds in Alaska came without fanfare, in two nondescript shipping boxes.
But their arrival Thursday at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison launched the biggest project in the 30- year-old center's history: surveillance for the H5N1 bird flu virus threatening the globe.
The 758 samples, from king eiders, sandhill cranes and other waterfowl hunted by Alaskan natives near the Yukon River delta, were frozen in pinkish solution inside tiny vials.
Robots will extract genetic material from the samples, pool the material into wells on lab plates, and heat and cool the collections until they glow if H5N1 is present.
"We're ready to go to town," said Hon Ip, who oversees the diagnostic virology lab at the center off Schroeder Road on the city's West Side. "But you never know what Mother Nature is going to throw at us."
With an infusion of nearly $3 million from President Bush's $3.8 billion bird flu readiness plan, the center is at the forefront of the country's lookout for the deadly virus.
Globally, the disease has led to the death or slaughter of millions of birds, devastating many poultry farms. It has killed 124 of the 218 people known to be infected since late 2003.
Scientists fear that the virus could kill millions of people worldwide if it becomes easily transmissible among people. A recent cluster of cases among family members in Indonesia, seven of whom died, has heightened concern.
H5N1 has not appeared in the United States. But if it does, a likely entry route is Alaska, which biologists call "Grand Central Station" of bird migration. Waterfowl could carry the virus from Asia over the Bering Strait and infect birds that fly to California and inland states.
Many experts say it is inevitable that the disease will eventually reach U.S. soil.
"I don't say 'if' anymore," said Leslie Dierauf, director of the center. "I said 'when.' "
The fecal swabs delivered by Fed Ex on Thursday are among nearly 20,000 samples expected at the center this year. While the first batch was from birds killed by hunters, most will come from live birds trapped by biologists this spring and fall.
A related effort will involve the necropsies, or animal autopsies, routinely performed at the center each year on more than 1,000 birds that die suspiciously throughout the country.
Pathologists will look closely for extra fluid in the birds' lungs or other signs of bird flu.
"It's possible the virus will appear differently in different species," said Scott Wright, chief of disease investigations at the center.
Ip and his colleagues will test the samples in two ways: with the robots, which produce results within a day; and by trying to grow the virus in eggs, which can take two weeks but is considered the "gold standard."
If samples appear to contain H5N1, they will be sent for confirmation to the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, Iowa.
Only then would federal officials announce that bird flu has arrived.
Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and the Department of Interior are already planning how to carefully break the news, Ip said.
"It's not going to be a trivial finding," he said.
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DAVID WAHLBERG
608-252-6125
dwahlberg@madison.com
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=85275&ntpid=1
The fecal samples from birds in Alaska came without fanfare, in two nondescript shipping boxes.
But their arrival Thursday at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison launched the biggest project in the 30- year-old center's history: surveillance for the H5N1 bird flu virus threatening the globe.
The 758 samples, from king eiders, sandhill cranes and other waterfowl hunted by Alaskan natives near the Yukon River delta, were frozen in pinkish solution inside tiny vials.
Robots will extract genetic material from the samples, pool the material into wells on lab plates, and heat and cool the collections until they glow if H5N1 is present.
"We're ready to go to town," said Hon Ip, who oversees the diagnostic virology lab at the center off Schroeder Road on the city's West Side. "But you never know what Mother Nature is going to throw at us."
With an infusion of nearly $3 million from President Bush's $3.8 billion bird flu readiness plan, the center is at the forefront of the country's lookout for the deadly virus.
Globally, the disease has led to the death or slaughter of millions of birds, devastating many poultry farms. It has killed 124 of the 218 people known to be infected since late 2003.
Scientists fear that the virus could kill millions of people worldwide if it becomes easily transmissible among people. A recent cluster of cases among family members in Indonesia, seven of whom died, has heightened concern.
H5N1 has not appeared in the United States. But if it does, a likely entry route is Alaska, which biologists call "Grand Central Station" of bird migration. Waterfowl could carry the virus from Asia over the Bering Strait and infect birds that fly to California and inland states.
Many experts say it is inevitable that the disease will eventually reach U.S. soil.
"I don't say 'if' anymore," said Leslie Dierauf, director of the center. "I said 'when.' "
The fecal swabs delivered by Fed Ex on Thursday are among nearly 20,000 samples expected at the center this year. While the first batch was from birds killed by hunters, most will come from live birds trapped by biologists this spring and fall.
A related effort will involve the necropsies, or animal autopsies, routinely performed at the center each year on more than 1,000 birds that die suspiciously throughout the country.
Pathologists will look closely for extra fluid in the birds' lungs or other signs of bird flu.
"It's possible the virus will appear differently in different species," said Scott Wright, chief of disease investigations at the center.
Ip and his colleagues will test the samples in two ways: with the robots, which produce results within a day; and by trying to grow the virus in eggs, which can take two weeks but is considered the "gold standard."
If samples appear to contain H5N1, they will be sent for confirmation to the National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, Iowa.
Only then would federal officials announce that bird flu has arrived.
Officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security and the Department of Interior are already planning how to carefully break the news, Ip said.
"It's not going to be a trivial finding," he said.
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