Montana wildlife officials say they’re prepared to contribute to the national effort to detect the possible arrival of the highly virulent strain bird flu that could be brought to North America via migrating waterfowl.
"We’ll begin Montana’s wild bird surveillance efforts in late July," said Mark Atkinson, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ wildlife veterinarian in Bozeman. "Montana’s primary focus will be on migrating birds from Alaskan, and possibly eastern Russian, breeding areas. Those birds typically don’t start arriving in Montana until late July and August.”
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will be working closely with the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to carry out the surveillance program, which will focus on finding highly pathogenic H5N1, a particularly virulent strain of avian influenza that is easily transmissible between and frequently fatal to susceptible bird species.
Montana’s plan comes in response to national concern about the possible arrival of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu virus in North America that has killed many flocks of wild and domestic birds in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Since 1997, the virus has sickened more than 200 people and killed 115 who had direct contact with infected poultry in Asia, Africa and Europe. The virus, however, is not easily transmitted to humans.
Avian flu is spread among birds through contact with secretions and feces of infected birds. In Asia, most known cases of disease transmission to humans have been linked to direct handling of sick birds or infected carcasses.
Last summer in Alaska, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collected samples from thousands of ducks, geese, swans and sandhill cranes to test for the presence of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus. None of the birds tested had the disease. A second round of tests is underway in Alaska’s waterfowl breeding grounds.
The Montana team of wildlife technicians will seek to collect samples from 2,400 birds—including tundra swans, snow geese, pintails, and mallards. The team also will collect 1,000 fecal samples where waterfowl concentrate, including urban duck flocks. Most samples will be collected in the Pacific Flyway, generally located in the western portion of Montana. Biologists will collect some of the samples during normal waterfowl banding operations that take place each summer.
Montana’s plan also includes getting help from hunters by collecting samples from harvested waterfowl through hunter field checks later this fall.
Wild birds are natural reservoirs for more than 140 avian influenza viruses. These various strains naturally occur in wild species and usually cause little or no disease. Domestic chickens, however, can be more susceptible to certain avian influenza viruses, including highly pathogenic H5N1.
Atkinson said he expects Montana researchers to detect several common and mild strains of bird flu once the surveillance begins. "Birds commonly contract many different types of flu viruses, but this summer and fall we’ll be looking for the one highly pathogenic type that affected domestic and wild birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. So, while we may find one of the many strains of avian flu that exist in waterfowl, it may not be the one we’re concerned about."
Atkinson also noted he’s confident Montana’s surveillance team will successfully sample at least 2,000 birds, but he said because samples from sick or dead wild birds could increase the probability of detecting the highly pathogenic H5N1, FWP will investigate reports of waterfowl and shorebird deaths. Beginning in July, about the time birds migrating waterfowl arrive in Montana, citizens will be able to report sick or dead birds via a toll free phone number, or online at FWP’s Avian Influenza website.
Meanwhile, public health officials stress that spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has yet to be linked with wild bird migrations and that all avian flu is primarily a disease of birds, not humans.
"Even if an early detection of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus occurs in wild birds in Montana or anywhere on the continent, it would not signal the start of a flu pandemic among people in North America," said Dr. Todd Damrow, Montana’s state epidemiologist.
While there have been no known cases of humans contracting the avian influenza virus from wild birds anywhere in the world, Atkinson said FWP will continue to urge hunters use common sense precautions when handling game, including to cook game meat thoroughly to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees and to not handle dead birds or birds that appear sick.
In addition to providing an early warning system for disease occurrence in wild birds, Montana’s participation in the national early detection effort will supply monitoring data used to create a national database to track all avian influenza information collected from wild birds in the U.S. The data will be used by scientists to develop a better understanding of the movement of avian influenza viruses among wild and domestic birds, improve risk analyses and target monitoring strategies to track future avian influenza spread.
For more information, on wild birds and avian influenza visit FWP Avian Influenza website. For information on pandemic flu preparations visit Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.
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