U.S. Enhances Plan To Detect Entry of Dangerous Bird Flu Strain
Interagency effort giving priority attention to Pacific migratory bird route
By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The United States has enhanced its strategy for detecting if a highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu) enters the United States.
The interagency early detection strategy, announced March 20 by the secretaries of agriculture, interior, and health and human services, identifies monitoring and testing wild birds entering the state of Alaska from eastern Asia and the Pacific as the highest priority. The route, known as the Pacific Flyway, includes western Canada and the United States and continues down through Central and South America.
The United States then will address bird migration routes covering the central and eastern parts of the country, the secretaries said. The eastern route involves birds flying from Europe into Canada and then to the United States.
At a press briefing at the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the officials said the United States also is coordinating with international agencies to track the spread of the highly pathogenic bird flu strain H5N1, which has spread to three continents but has not yet been detected in the Western Hemisphere.
The three officials agreed it is highly probable that H5N1 could be found in the United States in 2006. However, finding the highly pathogenic flu strain in birds in the United States "doesn't signal the start of a [human] pandemic," USDA Secretary Mike Johanns said.
Early detection would give U.S. agencies the opportunity to attempt to contain the virus within a geographic area and obtain samples necessary for developing a pandemic vaccine, according to a pandemic planning strategy issued March 13 by the Department of Health and Human Services (The pandemic planning update of the update (PDF, 12 pages) is available on the department’s Web site.)
Johanns said the media is important in helping to inform the public about any discoveries of bird flu but news organizations must do so in ways that do not cause unnecessary alarm.
The United States is working to communicate to countries around the world essential information for planning for and, ultimately, coping with a potential pandemic, according to the Health and Human Services update.
EMPHASIS ON MONITORING, EARLY DETECTION
The enhanced monitoring plan is intended to provide an early warning to agriculture, public health and wildlife communities, the officials said.
The strategy highlights five action steps:
• Investigating instances of a significant number of birds becoming sick or dying;
• Additional monitoring of live, apparently healthy, wild birds, which represent the highest risk of being infected with H5N1;
• Targeted sampling of birds killed by hunters at Interior Department stations, primarily in Alaska;
• Targeted sampling of birds from flocks raised in household yards for noncommercial purposes and from wetland duck flocks that might come into contact with wild birds; and
• Sampling water and feces in waterfowl habitats.
All test results will be shared with the public, the officials said.
Although the role of migratory birds in the transfer of H5N1 is not clear, the flu strain has been identified in an increasing number of wild birds, Interior Secretary Gale Norton said.
If a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu is detected in wild birds, USDA will monitor poultry operations in the affected area to minimize contact between wild birds and domestic animals, said Johanns.
The enhanced strategy was developed by wildlife-disease biologists, veterinarians and epidemiologists and provides standard procedures for sampling and diagnostics for governments, universities and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in monitoring bird flu, according to an interagency fact sheet available on the USDA Web site.
"The global nature of pandemic preparedness and the enormity of potential impacts are fostering a sprit of collaboration across the world," according to Health and Human Services.
The United States is working with other countries to develop coordinated bird flu monitoring and international transparency of new findings, said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.
Leavitt also emphasized the importance of local planning for a potential pandemic. He said that HHS will have held community planning meetings in all 50 U.S. states by May.
The Department of the Interior is responsible for monitoring and protecting wildlife. USDA is responsible for the safety of domestic flocks of poultry. HHS is responsible for effects on human health of diseases.
H5N1 first appeared in 1997 in Hong Kong. Since then U.S. wildlife experts and public health officials have been monitoring the spread of the highly pathogenic virus.
The full text of USDA’s interagency early detection strategy is available on the department’s Web site.
For more information on the avian influenza and efforts to combat it, see Bird Flu.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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