When the greenwing teal and the Canada goose fly south to Colorado this fall, state wildlife veterinarians expect they’ll bring avian flu with them.
After mingling this summer in Alaska with migratory birds from Asia, where the virus first surfaced, some North American birds are likely to pick up the flu, wildlife officials say.
Colorado and federal officials already have prepared monitoring and screening systems.
There will also be a telephone hotline for people to report dead birds – 877-462-2911.
Officials stress, however, that one northern mallard with the flu does not make a pandemic.
“Remember that avian influenza is an animal disease, it’s not a human disease,” said Keith Roehr, acting state veterinarian with the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
“The people who have become ill in most cases have very intimate and chronic contact with infected birds,” Roehr said.
“The virus doesn’t infect people very easily,” he said. “With common hygiene and protection, people are at low risk.”
Still, an army of state and federal agencies is getting ready to do battle against the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has infected tens of millions of wild birds and domestic poultry in Asia, Europe and Africa.
Fewer than 200 people have been infected – with the flu killing half of them.
To combat the virus, multiple Colorado agencies have joined to form the Avian Influenza and Surveillance Education Task Force for early detection of the virus when it lands in Colorado.
The effort will cost more than $500,000, according to Kristy Pabilonia, a Colorado State University researcher and the program’s coordinator.
The state Division of Wildlife has been swabbing migratory birds since December to test for the flu.
The Department of Agriculture is monitoring poultry and livestock birds, and CSU tests the samples in a lab.
So far, 175 wild birds have been screened – mallards in northeastern Colorado and turkeys in the central-west region, said DOW veterinarian Laurie Baeten.
The task force will begin screening Canada geese along the Front Range in June, Baeten said.
Once the virus is confirmed in birds migrating through Colorado, the next line of defense is protecting commercial poultry facilities and small backyard flocks.
“There is no way to prevent wild birds from migrating into the United States, but we have fairly good biosecurity in place to prevent mixing of wild birds with domestic poultry,” Baeten said.
That isn’t true in Asia, where wild birds commingle with poultry and the virus has ravaged the domestic chicken population.
“Here, the commercial poultry – egg layers and meat birds – are confined in an indoor facility and don’t have direct contact with migratory birds,” said Pabilonia.
A greater concern is noncommercial poultry – backyard hobbyists, 4H clubs and small operators. These birds are outside part of the day, and they may come in contact with migratory waterfowl, Pabilonia said.
Wild birds flying into a farm pond shed the virus in feces, potentially infecting domestic ducks and backyard chicken flocks.
The virus can also be transmitted from bird to bird through saliva and nasal secretions.
Pabilonia has been testing backyard flocks for about a year without finding the disease.
Meanwhile, Roehr, the acting state veterinarian, says the state’s commercial poultry operators can protect their birds from the virus.
One of Colorado’s largest egg producers, Morning Fresh Farms in Platteville, has a shower-in and shower-out policy for employees in direct contact with birds, said president Derek Yancey.
Those employees also wear masks, respirators and uniforms. Tires and undercarriages of delivery trucks are disinfected before entering the property.
“We’ve had these measures in place for eight or 10 years,” Yancey said. “All commercial industry has some type of biosecurity program. It’s protecting our livelihood and our investment.”
The current avian flu threat is only one of many risks the poultry industry faces, Roehr said.
“Other types of avian influenza – both high and low pathogenic – have existed in the United States,” Roehr said.
Last month, the Bush administration announced a federal plan to coordinate state and federal wildlife agencies.
The plan puts Colorado on the second tier of a three-tier risk system. Alaska and the Pacific Northwest get top priority in federal funding for bird testing.
Colorado will get $50,000 in federal funds to collect 500 wild bird samples, said Baeten.
The state health department plans to monitor poultry workers.
“It can be transmitted to humans, and that’s why we are very interested in monitoring it,” said Kathe Bjork, an epidemiologist for the state Department of Public Health and Environment.
“We’re also interested in worker safety for people who work with birds that are sick,” Bjork said. “We will have guidelines for worker safety and protective equipment, and we will monitor them for illness.”
Staff writer Dave Curtin can be reached at 303-820-1276 or dcurtin@denverpost.com.
