How to test and control bird flu before it is too late
If there is one thing we learned from Covid, then the need for a fast, accurate and point to help help contain the virus before silently spread to many others. Years have passed before we have these effective tools and we can apply them properly in real time for real patients.
Today, there is the same problem in animals for H5N1 bird flu, where the virus spreads through herds before we know that even one bird is infected.
It takes several hours for the results of the reaction of the polymerax reaction, which “discovers the genetic material from the nurse or abnormal cell sample,” to return. By that time, the only effective strategy is often executed all birds in the herd to prevent we hope to prevent the spread of it.
With more than 1.5 billion chickens in the United States at one time, there are a lot of birds entering from and outside farms. The latest outbreak of bird flu, which has continued in the United States since 2021, includes more than 168 million poultry.
At the same time, the majority of new discoveries are found in small backyard herds and live bird markets. Genetic studies confirm that the virus is frequently provided by wild birds.
Water birds and coastal birds are the natural hosts of influenza viruses, although they often do not make them very sick. There is no way to reduce the spread of wild birds or spread from there to poultry.
Wild birds migrate in large numbers to the United States in the fall/winter when the weather is cold and moist. Migration again in the spring leads to more exposure.
The wild bird vaccination of the influenza is very ill is not an option. It is estimated that there are 50 billion of them. You can never pick up and vaccinate enough of them to influence.
Production facilities are widely tried to reduce poultry exposure to wild birds. The trucks are well cleaned, the shoes are dipped in an antiseptic when entering, exiting, examining and special entrances that keep wild birds.
Poultry houses are believed to be “barrier facilities” where, once they enter, birds can remain healthy and isolated from risk. On the contrary, it is very difficult for the home owner with the backyard of the backyard to avoid any kind of exposure or connecting to wild birds.
The influenza is transmitted directly by drops in the air and also indirectly by contaminated surfaces. The poultry of the backyard of water or food vessels that have contaminated with wild birds can be infected.
Once injured, more than 90 percent of chicken and turkey will die of this virus. The virus embraces for several days before birds appear symptoms, so they cannot be managed by removing birds that appear sick and act only, because by that time, it has already spread through the herd, which led to death or the execution of a large number of birds.
More attention is given to poultry vaccination with influenza vaccines before the herd is injured. Dr. Jara Jani, the veterinarian of the poultry in Cornell, told us that “the H5 vaccines that were killed or not active are used all over the world”, the development of companies in the United States and the testing of new releases for this fascism. The US Department of Agriculture provides grants to stimulate its rapid development.
But to maintain business profitability, poultry vaccines must be very economical, due to the number of birds concerned, their short life (layer chickens live less than two years, each new group must be vaccinated) and the low cost of each animal.
Another major obstacle to poultry vaccination is that the antibody tests that many countries use to search for severe pathogenic flu is unable to distinguish between a sickly vaccinated bird. The National Chicken Council estimates that the export chicken market is more than $ 5 billion annually, and some countries will not simply accept imports from the countries that are pollinated.
But according to Dr. Laura Godman, an expert in molecular diagnosis of public health in Cornell, then the new fast tests that are developed to be positive can only be used for H5N1, before chicken shows signs of disease and before inserting them into a barrier or market facility for direct birds.
If the fast tests can be used widely, the H5N1 bird influenza is easily easily easily easily. Tests can also be used to demonstrate that the entire herds remain infected and the most traditional PCR tests can be reserved on the screen for new sub -types that may be emerging.
The goal of controlling bird flu through rapid molecular tests exceeds the protection of chicken, eggs and economy. Because, with the spread of viruses and turns, they may adapt to more and more species, including humans.
Alexander Travis VMD, PhD, is the head of the Public Health and Ecological System at Cornell University, Director of Cornell Public Health Company, Cornell Veterinary College, Cornells, The center of influenza is highly ill. He is the co -founder of Tetmedical Company, Marc Siegel, MD, a clinical professor and medical director for your doctor’s radio at Langone Health at New York University.
