US Testing for Bird Flu in Alaska | Voice of America - English
They face no passport controls or border police. They come unchecked by the thousands, and because they do, authorities in the United States fear they could be a potentially lethal threat. They are migratory birds that wing their way from Asia to the Americas, the feared source of a possible continental pandemic. So far there have been no confirmed cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu in North America and U.S. health officials want to keep it that way. In a new effort to prevent the disease from reaching America's shores, the U.S.
The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge is a remote and desolate region of the Alaskan tundra. It is here that wild birds from both Asia and America come to feed and nest during the summer months. Scientists fear these nesting grounds might just be the gateway through which a deadly strain of avian flu enters the Americas. So it is here that biologists such as Chris Nicoli have been dispatched to catch and test birds for avian flu. He is participating in a U.S. government-sponsored early warning detection program that will test more than 15,000 birds in Alaska this summer. The Brant Goose is one of the prime suspects being targeted for testing. An area near the Tutakote River is a nesting ground for Brant Geese and Eider ducks, two of the 27 species being tested throughout the state. Bob Leddy is coordinating the avian flu early warning surveillance program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska. Biologist Jim Sedinger with the University of Nevada at Reno has been studying birds in Alaska for more than 20 years. He says what scientists already know about migratory patterns can help them identify and contain a possible outbreak. The more biologists learn about transmission, the more effectively this new type of border guard can protect a concerned public from H5N1, the deadly strain of avian flu.