Spring migration heightens pandemic threat; wildlifers launch detection plan.

Emergency Preparedness News, April, 2006

The spring migration of waterfowl and shore birds is usually a welcome harbinger in the United States of warm weather and outdoor living. This spring, however, U.S. wildlife professionals will be tracking bird migrations for a more ominous sign--that the highly pathogenic avian flu strain H5N1 has entered the country.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Departments of Interior and Health and Human Services have collaborated on "An Early Detection System for Asian H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Wild Migratory Birds--U.S. Interagency Strategic Plan." The strategy focuses on Alaska--where the deadly strain from Southeast Asia would most likely arrive if it spread to North America via migratory birds-and the Pacific Flyway and Pacific Islands. ...

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