More Avian Influenza [News and Report]

With Avian Flu Spreading, U.S. to Expand its Testing
07 March 2006
USA Today
Anita Manning
Photo courtesy: USA Today

The U.S. government, bracing for the possibility that migrating birds could carry a deadly strain of bird flu to North America, plans to test nearly eight times as many wild birds this year as have been tested in the past decade.

Starting in April, samples from 75,000 to 100,000 birds will be tested for the virus, mainly in Alaska, as part of a joint effort of the departments of Agriculture and Interior, along with state Fish & Wildlife agencies. That's a jump from the 12,000 birds tested since 1996, the USDA's Angela Harless says.

The expanded program, which will include birds in the Pacific islands and on the West Coast, reflects growing concern that the virus, highly pathogenic A (H5N1), which has spread across Asia and Europe, could arrive in North America as soon as this spring and be carried into the western continental USA by fall.

"I would expect" the virus to arrive in North America, USDA Secretary Mike Johanns says. It could enter in other ways, he says, including smuggling of infected pet birds or fighting cocks, but the chance that it could be carried in with the spring migration "is definitely a possibility."


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OIE Report: Disease Information
March 2006; Vol. 19 - No. 9

This report includes updates on avian influenza test results in wildlife from different countries.


>>> FULL REPORT