• What is avian influenza?
• If "bird flu", or avian influenza, is so common, why all the concern?
• How is the virus transmitted from bird to bird?
• How could hunters or bird watchers become infected with this virus?
• Will avian influenza be found in Montana's wild birds?
• Has the virulent strain of bird flu been found anywhere in the United States?
• What parts of the country have been studied so far?
• What other organizations participate in Montana's early detection effort?
• How is this effort being funded?
• Where and when will Montana's wild birds be tested?

A. Avian influenza (AI) is a disease caused by a virus that infects domestic poultry and wild birds. Some forms of the flu are worse than others. Wild birds--including shorebirds and waterfowl--are natural reservoirs for more than 140 avian influenza viruses.

AI strains are divided into two groups based on their "pathogenicity," or the ability of the virus to cause disease:

• Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI): Most AI strains are classified as low pathogenicity and cause few symptoms in infected birds. LPAI generally does not pose a significant health threat to humans. With rare exception, the majority of flu viruses found in wild birds has been low pathogenic avian influenza and have seldom been associated with signs of illness. Low pathogenic avian influenza occurs routinely in North America and across the world.
• High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI): This type of avian influenza is can be fatal to and is easily transmitted between susceptible bird species. The strain that is currently of concern in Asia, Europe, and Africa is the highly pathogenic HPAI H5N1 virus. The HPAI H5N1 influenza has not been detected in North America. Because it is possible that HPAI H5N1 will spread to the U.S., federal and state authorities are preparing for the possible occurrence of this disease.

A. Several years ago, one particularly virulent form of AI emerged. It's caused by a strain of virus known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1 and has sickened and killed birds in Asia, Africa and Europe. Domestic birds, particularly chickens, are more susceptible to this particular avian influenza virus. Although HPAI H5N1 is a bird virus, more than 300 people in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa have been infected and nearly 200 people died from the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus as of August 2007. These infections were the result of direct contact with infected poultry.

There are a number of ways that the virulent bird flu virus could reach North America—wild bird migration, illegal smuggling of birds or poultry, travel by infected people or people traveling with virus-contaminated articles from regions where highly pathogenic H5N1 already exists.

A. Avian flu viruses are transmitted among birds through respiratory secretions and fecal droppings.

A. First, U.S. public health officials stress that the virulent bird flu virus is primarily a disease of birds, not humans.

Second, there have been no known cases of humans contracting avian influenza virus from wild birds anywhere in the world.

Third, even if an early detection of HPAI H5N1 avian influenza virus is found in wild birds in Montana or some other state, it would not signal the start of a flu pandemic among people in North America.

Fourth, the risk to bird watchers and hunters is minimal since the virus does not transmit easily to humans. However, FWP recommends hunters and others follow several common sense precautions when processing or handling game.

A. As expected, FWP detected several common and mild strains of avian influenza during the Avian Influenza Surveillance Project Sampling last year. There are more than 140 strains of avian influenza and wild birds often contract the flu. In the second year of the suveillance, FWP will again look for one strain—HPAI H5N1—that erupted in domestic birds in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. When another strain of avian influenza is found, that doesn't mean the highly pathogenic H5N1 has been or will be detected.

A. No. To date, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has not been found in North American wild or domestic birds.

A. General studies of avian influenza in wild birds have been underway in Alaska since 1988 with no positive cases of the virulent virus detected to date. Surveillance in Alaska and the rest of the U.S. should provide a means of detecting HPAI H5N1 if it enters North America from wild birds either migrating from Siberia or other parts of Asia or mixing with birds from breeding grounds in Alaska. Surveillance has also been increased along the U.S. southern border in this second year of nation-wide surveillance to detect the possible entry of HPAI H5N1 from Mexico and S. Am.

A. In addition to FWP, other members of the Montana team include USDA/APHIS-Wildlife Services; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the Montana Department of Agriculture, which monitors the health of domestic poultry; and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, which monitors human health, and the many Native American Tribes of Montana.

A. Federal funding covers costs of bird and environmental sampling.

A. Last year the montana team tested 2022 live and hunter-harvested birds and submitted 62 mortality/morbidity samples to the National Wildlife Health Center lab in Madison, WI. A totoal of 998 environmental samples were also collected state-wide. During 2007, the Montana team will sample 1500 birds—including tundra swans, snow geese, pintails, mallards. Sampling began in August with the effort focused within the Pacific and Central Flyways.

Biologists and technicians will sample live birds during waterfowl banding operations that take place each summer as well as from urban waterfowl flocks using baited swim-in traps. In addition, 1,000 fecal samples will be collected and processed during the migration period from areas where waterfowl and shorebirds concentrate.

Montana's plan also includes getting help from hunters and the testing of harvested ducks, tundra swans, and snow geese through field checks.

Dead and sick waterfowl or shorebirds will be investigated and sampled. Six transects across the state are being surveyed weekly for mortalities using canoes or on foot. Bird mortality events reported by the public will be investigated and provide opportunities for sampling. Citizens will can report sick or dead birds via a toll free phone number, 1-866-608-5024, or online at FWP's Avian Influenza website.

For more information, on wild birds and avian influenza visit FWP's Avian Influenza website. For information on pandemic flu preparations visit Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.