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  FAO website 1 Jun 06
Wild birds' role in HPAI crisis confirmed
But scientific conference fingers poultry business

FAO website 1 Jun 06
Free as a bird--or under surveillance?
Plan for global wild birds tracking system

BBC 31 May 06
Wild bird role in flu 'unclear'
By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC News, Rome

PlanetArk 1 Jun 06
Wild Birds Role Unclear in Spreading Bird Flu - FAO

ROME - The role of wild birds in spreading the deadly avian influenza remains unclear, a top veterinary expert at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Wednesday after a two-day international scientific conference.

The virus primarily hits birds but it has killed 127 people around the world since it re-emerged in Asia in late 2003.

As the deadly H5N1 virus spread rapidly in the past six months from Asia into parts of the Middle East, Europe and Africa, specialists have been trying to work out how it travels.

Some suggest wild migrating birds are the main carriers, others point to poultry trade as the major force behind the virus's spread.

"Do we have a permanent reservoir (of the virus) in wild birds or not? It still remains a question," FAO's Chief of Animal Health Services Joseph Domenech told Reuters after the conference attended by over 300 scientists from 100 countries.

He said one of the main achievements of the conference, organised by FAO and World Animal Health Organisation (OIE), was to get together people from different sectors -- from poultry trade to wildlife experts and policy makers -- and start the discussion about how bird flu travels on long distances.

"We have identified the gaps and the need to continue and intensify research, in particular with regards to the species which can be involved (in spreading the virus)", Domenech said.

He said global surveillance of wild birds should be boosted to gather more information. Many countries around the world are on alert for bird flu, especially after the recent flurry of human cases in Indonesia, as they fear it may mutate into one that spreads easily among people and trigger a pandemic, killing millions.

BBC 31 May 06
Wild bird role in flu 'unclear'
By Matt McGrath Science reporter, BBC News, Rome

The role of swans and other wild birds in spreading bird flu is still unclear and uncertain, according to scientists.

Many of the assumptions being made about the part played in the spread of the disease by wild birds simply do not stand up to analysis, they say.

International researchers are in Rome for a two-day conference to discuss the spread of avian flu. Poultry vaccination and a greater emphasis on Africa were also called for by the delegates. The scientific meeting has been organised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN and the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE).

Disease indicators

Dr Ian Brown from the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) at Weybridge in Surrey told the BBC News website: "We shouldn't just assume that it's a few species of ducks and the swans that are the risk species. Certainly we have to look at those, but we need to keep a broad open mind on this one."

Dr Brown said that swans were interesting indicators of the presence of the disease, but their role in spreading it was less clear.

"We have to be careful that just because we see dead swans and we find the virus in them that they're the answer to why the virus is spreading," he said. "We do know that swans are largely immobile; they don't migrate over large distances on the whole.

"The movements that have happened in Europe in the past six months have been because of bad weather, so we have to be careful that all the explanations of how the virus is spreading are not placed at the swans' door. They're one part of a complicated web."

Call for vaccines

The scientists also heard an impassioned plea for the use of vaccines to control the disease in domestic poultry.

Dr Robert Webster, from St Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, said that it was absurd that vaccines were not used. "The global poultry industry is the main spreader of H5N1, but migratory birds have certainly played a role. A main issue in my mind is the use of vaccines at agricultural level to control this thing," he said.

"There are good vaccines available, it can be controlled at source, but the agricultural authorities of the world won't standardise their vaccines for antigen content. They say it can't be done, but it's not true, it can be done."

Dr Webster says that using vaccines is of far greater importance in the developing world. "The wealthy countries can afford to cull their infected birds. The poorer simply can't. The science allows us to make superb vaccines for poultry - let's use them for God's sake."

An African focus

There were also calls for a greater focus on Africa. According to the chief veterinary officer of the FAO, Dr Joseph Domenech, if the disease becomes endemic on the continent, it could re-infect the rest of the world for years to come.

Dr Domenech said in Africa "we have a risk of permanent endemicity, we have a risk of new countries being contaminated, and there is a danger of permanent re-infection of other regions through wild birds or trade. In other countries the efforts are already done, but not in Africa".

Eight African countries have reported outbreaks of bird flu to date but experts speaking here expect that number to rise. Scientists are questioning if African countries have the economic or political capacity to eradicate the virus. There are worries about the difficulties in enforcing culling and the control of poultry movements, and there are simply not enough staff to carry out adequate monitoring.

According to Dr Domenech, Asia and Europe had made progress in the speed of their detection and response. This was key to dealing with new outbreaks.

"Even if there are reservoirs of infection in the world that you can do nothing about, with effective monitoring and response you can control it," he said. "This is something we may have here for many years and we may have to live with it."

Many delegates spoke of the need for better information to help target their research. There was a growing understanding that while there was excellent research being done on the ground with wild birds, there was a lack of global perspective.

FAO website 1 Jun 06
Wild birds' role in HPAI crisis confirmed
But scientific conference fingers poultry business

Rome - Migrating wild birds have played and will likely continue to play a role in transporting highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, or bird flu, over long distances.

This was among the main conclusions of a two-day international scientific conference called by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

But the conference, attended by over 300 scientists from more than 100 countries, also recognized that the virus was mainly spread through poultry trade, both legal and illegal.

"Several presentations at the Conference, some supported by recent publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, implicated wild birds in the introduction of HPAI H5N1 virus at considerable geographical distance from known H5N1 outbreaks in poultry," the meeting said in a concluding document.

Reservoir puzzle

But the participants admitted they could not resolve another of the key issues at the conference, which was the role of wild birds in the spread of HPAI to more than 50 countries on three continents, and whether wild birds should now be considered a permanent reservoir of the virus.

If they are such a reservoir, there is a strong likelihood they will carry the virus with them in subsequent migrations. Alternately H5N1 may subside naturally as infected animals die off, or it may mutate to a less aggressive form.

"This was one of the main gaps identified in our present scientific knowledge," said Joseph Domenech, FAO?s chief veterinary officer. "We must therefore intensify our investigations."

The conference noted that the current outbreaks of H5N1 virus in eight African countries appeared to be poultry-related and chiefly based on trade in poultry for human consumption, including illegal trade.

However, it called for further analysis for a more complete understanding of how the virus was introduced.

More investment

"There is a need to mobilize the international donor community to invest in the improvement of veterinary services in developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia," Dr Gideon K. Brückner, Head of OIE's Scientific and Technical Department, said.

Wise investments here will promote early detection in wild birds and rapid response to disease outbreaks, Dr Brückner added. H5N1 disease management would need to be based on improved biosecurity and hygiene at the production level, and in all poultry sectors, including minimizing the possibility of contact between domestic and wild birds, the conference advocated.

It called for the establishment of a global tracking and monitoring facility involving all relevant institutions across the world, including scientific centres and farmers' organizations, hunters, bird watchers, and wetland and wildlife conservation societies.

The participants rejected any suggestion of trying to stop the spread of HPAI by killing wild birds.

"Destruction of wild bird habitats or indiscriminate hunting of wildlife is scientifically and ethically unjustified as a response," one of the conference recommendations said. It urged continuing research to adopt an inter-disciplinary approach, and called for investment to incorporate telemetry/satellite technology to improve understanding of wild bird migration patterns

FAO website 1 Jun 06
Free as a bird--or under surveillance?
Plan for global wild birds tracking system

Rome - Flying backpackers, communications satellites and a network of computers would monitor the movements of wild birds on their annual migrations under a plan proposed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The 6.8-million-dollar plan could also provide the world with crucial advance warning of the occurrence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, which causes bird flu.

Deploying teams of national and international veterinary and wild bird experts on the ground, it would fill a huge gap in scientific knowledge about where, when and how wild birds associated with HPAI --principally aquatic and shore birds--migrate.

"All we have now is a snapshot. We need to see the whole film," says Joseph Domenech, Chief Veterinary Officer of FAO.

The plan involves capturing thousands of wild birds before they migrate, testing sample birds for disease, and fitting some of them out with tiny backpacks weighing less than 50 grams each.

After the birds are released, the sophisticated telemetry equipment inside the packs would track their every movement. A system of radio beacons and satellites would then feed data into the computers of ornithologists, ecologists, virologists and epidemiologists round the world.

The project is in line with recommendations made at a two-day international scientific conference on avian influenza and wild birds which ended yesterday.

The conference, attended by some 300 scientists from over 100 countries, was organized by FAO and the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Wild birds' role

The conference concluded that wild birds do play a role in transporting HPAI over long distances but that human activities such as poultry production and trade are principally responsible for spreading the disease.

It noted, however, that there was a basic need for better understanding of wild bird migration and the associated risks of virus introduction. And it also called for telemetry and satellite technology to be used in such studies.

Under FAO's plan, the backpacks would show the migrating birds' exact whereabouts when they stop over for rest and recreation on their long journeys. Mobile, ground-based teams would then re-test the sample birds for disease and, in the case of a positive return, have a good idea of where the infection originated and where it might head next.

Early warning would give governments and producers more time to respond to potential threats--with great benefits for the poultry industry and society at large.

FAO together with the World Health Organization and the World Organisation for Animal Health has initiated a global early warning and response system (GLEWS) which monitors livestock and emerging transboundary diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, swine fever, ebola, and Rift valley fever.

"But so far wildlife and wild birds have fallen into the cracks," Domenech said.

The proposed new system - in which several organizations, such as the Wildlife Conservation Society, Wetlands International, CIRAD, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development and others could participate--would feed into the GLEWS system.

A small part of the money to fund the project is already on hand, but FAO would need the help of donors and governments to get it up and flying. Free as a bird? Yes, but under close surveillance.
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