Samples negative for bird flu so far

.S. Bird Flu Samples Test Negative
USAgNet - 06/13/2006

Several thousand samples from both live and subsistence-hunted birds in Alaska have so far tested negative for the avian flu virus, according to government officials.

Scientists from federal, state and local governments are cooperating in a nationwide survey to see if wild migratory birds may have brought the disease to the North American continent. The plan is to sample between 75,000 and 100,000 wild birds around the country.

Most of the sampling will be done in Alaska, considered a migratory crossroads for birds traveling between Asia and the Lower 48.

Spokesman Bruce Woods said agencies under the Department of the Interior have collected samples from more than 4,000 birds in Alaska, mostly subsistence hunted fowl.

Just under half of those samples have been tested at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis., and none has shown any trace of the highly pathogenic virus.

Spokeswoman Gail Keirn with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said the department has have collected almost 700 samples so far and all have tested negative for the virus. Those tests are being conducted at USDA certified veterinary labs around the country and the National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colo.

The goal is to sample 19,000 live and hunter-killed birds in Alaska this year and collect another 1,500 fecal samples from wetlands where large numbers of birds mingle.

Scientists hope to test at least 200 samples each from 28 different species that are considered the most likely to be carriers of the virus and the most practical to sample.


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