Understanding How Wetlands and Rice Paddies Affect the Spread of
Bird Flu In the mid-1990s, highly pathogenic avian influenza
(bird flu) emerged in southern China. Severe outbreaks in the
winter of 2005-2006 spread the virus, designated H5N1, across
Asia, Europe, and Africa, killing hundreds of people, thousands
of wild birds, and millions of poultry. In fall 2009, scientists
and public health officials continued to watch H5N1 closely for
signs that, like H1N1 (“swine flu”), it had evolved into a form
capable of creating a pandemic. Landscape ecologist Xiangming
Xiao of the University of Oklahoma is part of a large group of
scientists from U.S. and international scientific and public
health organizations who are trying to predict areas at high
risk for future avian influenza outbreaks. Xiao and his team use
satellite images to map the location of rice paddies and
wetlands in China and Southeast Asia, something that Landsat
images will allow them to do in much more detail. “Harvested
rice paddies have become a