Could bird flu migrate here? – Puget Sound bird `flyway” exposes region to virus

Published 4:34 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

By Mike Archbold

Reprinted from the King County Journal

It’s not unreasonable to be concerned about migratory birds from Asia spreading the deadly avian flu in the Puget Sound region, local health officials say.

The birds may already be carrying the flu to Europe and Africa.

Puget Sound is a way station on the Pacific Flyway, an imaginary highway in the sky that migrating birds such as gulls, ducks and other water birds travel north and south between Alaska and South America. Five such flyways traverse the United States.

“We need to pay attention to flyways,” said Dr. Leonard Eldridge, the state veterinarian with the state Department of Agriculture. “And yes, our geese come down in the winter and do socialize with other flyways that are in Asia.”

The possibility exists for the deadly H5N1 bird flu to be spread to local poultry and commercial birds, he said.

If it’s found, Eldridge said, the federal policy is to stamp it out. That means killing birds.

So far no birds, wild or otherwise, have been found with H5N1, he said.

For the most part, the H5N1 avian flu affects mainly birds. What worries scientists and health officials worldwide is that the potential exists for it to mutate into a bird flu that can be spread from human to human. H5N1 has killed more than 60 people in Southeast Asia since 2003, most of whom had close contact with birds.

A mutation to human bird flu could lead to a pandemic epidemic affecting large numbers of people around the world. The presence of H5N1, however, does not mean a human influenza pandemic is imminent.

Dr. Sharon Hopkins, the veterinarian for King County Public Health, agreed with Eldridge that commercial and backyard breeders of birds and poultry should protect their flocks from wild birds.

She said avian bird flu and a human pandemic flu are two different scenarios.

She said people should have no fear of migrating birds at the moment. “We are not advising people to stop birding and eating poultry,” she said.

If a human pandemic flu erupts, she said, airplanes full of passengers — not migratory birds — will be the first concern.

The state has a vigorous testing program under way that is examining dead birds and sick birds as well as free range birds, Eldridge said. Commercial poultry growers and bird breeders are testing their birds, too.

The federal government has an intensive surveillance program of wild birds under way in Alaska, he said.

If H5N1 is found in migratory birds, Eldridge said, authorities will focus on free range birds, commercial growers and breeders and backyard and local water fowl.

Any depopulating of a bird population would be a federal decision, he said.

Early last year, an outbreak of an H7 bird flu in Canada resulted in 17 million poultry being slaughtered to stop the flu spreading.

British Columbia officials said Tuesday that avian bird flu has been found in wild birds in British Columbia but they don’t think further tests will indicate it is the dangerous H5N1 strain. Infected birds also were found in late October in Quebec and Manitoba.

Dr. Ron Lewis, British Columbia’s chief veterinarian, told the Associated Press earlier that the result doesn’t raise the risk to commercial poultry farmers. Rather, it serves as a reminder of the threats carried by wild birds.

Farmers should focus their efforts on maintaining strict biosecurity to keep their chickens from being exposed to wild birds, he said.

The deadly H5N1 strain of the virus was found in birds in Romania and Turkey last month, according to the BBC News. Macedonia also has sent samples from a chicken, suspected to have died of the same strain. Bird flu was found in a turkey in Greece, too.

Scientists in Europe fear a link between bird migration and their cases but said it is hard to prove.

Mike Archbold can be reached at mike.archbold@kingcountyjournal.com or at 253-872-6647.