22 June 2006
Foreign Scientists in U.S. Learn Bird Flu Testing Techniques
Program seeks to improve animal health care infrastructuree
Washington – Animal health specialists from countries as diverse as Argentina, Indonesia and Uganda have converged on a laboratory in the American heartland to learn how to detect a virus that might set off a global influenza pandemic.
In response to requests for technical training from other countries, the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NSVL) of the U.S. Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service has been conducting training in diagnostic testing for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
“They get [training in] a whole battery of tests to diagnose avian influenza,” said Dr. Beth Lautner, director of the NVSL in Ames, Iowa.
The highly pathogenic avian influenza strain H5N1 has reached pandemic proportions among animals in several Asian countries and has appeared in wild or domestic bird populations in more than 50 countries.
Since its emergence in late 2003, more than 200 million domestic birds have died from the disease itself, or as a result of culling intended to limit the spread of the virus.
About 130 people have died from the disease, most after direct exposure to ailing birds. Health experts warn that the virus could mutate to become contagious among humans, leading to a pandemic of human influenza.
As the disease spread into more countries after its initial appearance in Southeast Asia, international concern mounted about the need to prevent human disease at its source in animal populations.
A meeting of donor nations in Beijing in January ended with pledges of almost $2 billion, with much of that targeted to improving disease surveillance and control in animal populations. (See related article.)
THE TRAINING
Lautner, a veterinarian, says the animal health specialists coming to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) facility in Iowa have differing levels of experience and facilities in their countries.
“When they go back to their countries, they have to look at what equipment … they have and what testing procedures fit best into the programs in their individual countries,” Lautner said in a telephone interview from NVSL.
The training focuses on virus isolation and production of that virus from a sample to be used in testing purposes, she added. They scientists also are trained in molecular diagnostic techniques that allow rapid testing of a sample.
“Having those skills are transferable to other agents as well,” said the NVSL veterinarian. While highly pathogenic avian influenza is the pathogen of concern now, animal health specialists might encounter a wide variety of diseases in real-world situations back home.
“We help them on [the question] ‘what else might it be if it’s not [avian influenza],’” Lautner said.
The NVSL training benefits not only the several dozen specialists who will pass through the Ames laboratories. Training participants return to their countries with instruction in how to pass their knowledge on and spread the techniques more widely among colleagues.
“This is part of helping to build veterinarian infrastructure in other countries,” Lautner said.
Building stronger veterinarian infrastructure throughout the world is part of the overall U.S. strategy against pandemic, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service of USDA, another agency partner in sponsoring the training.
“Our international efforts represent the frontline battle to safeguard agriculture and mitigate the risk of an influenza pandemic,” said Jocelyn Brown, assistant deputy administrator, at a June 20 Washington briefing.
GLOBAL HEALTH NETWORKS
Laboratory techniques are an important part of the training program, but professional exchange that occurs among these scientists is also important.
“We learn as well from the participants in the course,” Lautner said. “We see it as a two-way street.”
The specialists from different nations give the U.S. animal health experts new understanding of what is happening in animal populations in other countries. The training is also the basis for ongoing relationships and opens international dialogues among specialists. Such dialogues are part of a larger global movement to integrate better the disciplines of animal health and human health.
Growing recognition of the tendency for viruses to move among species has sparked greater interest in informational exchange between what have been largely separate spheres in health practice.
“We need to better understand what [all nations are] doing with regard to surveillance,” Lautner said, “and we need to understand what diagnostic techniques each of us is using.”
THE PARTICIPANTS
Animal health specialists participating in the June 19-23 workshop represent Argentina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burma, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Mozambique, Oman, Pakistan, Romania, Sudan, Taiwan, Uganda and Uruguay.
The first training session, held February 27-March 3, had 25 participants from Algeria, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Georgia, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
The second session, held May 15-19, had 26 participants from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Ghana, India, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Serbia-Montenegro, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
For additional information, 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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