Associated Press
06-20-06
Scientists Go to Iowa for Bird Flu School
By AMY LORENTZEN
AMES, Iowa - Two dozen scientists from around the world gathered in high-tech
classrooms and laboratories in central Iowa on Monday to learn how to diagnose
avian influenza and control its spread.
The scientists from 19 countries including Argentina, Mozambique, Lebanon and
Taiwan, were taking part in the Avian Influenza Diagnostic Training Course at
Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. The five-day training
course, a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and ISU, was the
third of its kind in the past six months. The USDA's Foreign Agriculture Service
provided most of the funding for the event.
Dr. Dennis Senne, a poultry specialist with the USDA's National Veterinary
Services Lab in Ames, said that, in addition to sending experts to other countries,
the course is an indication of the government's commitment to working with
international partners on bird flu preparedness.
"To protect our nation, it's critical that we work in concert with our many partners
overseas ... knowing that anything that we can do to contain this disease and
virus overseas will benefit us and help to protect both the animal and human
health here in the United States," he said.
Ames is a hot spot for avian influenza training and testing, and home to the
NVSL, the laboratory that serves as the final confirmatory laboratory that will
determine whether highly pathogenic bird flu virus has arrived in the United
States.
Known as the H5N1 strain of bird influenza, the virus spread from Asia, where it's
blamed for the slaughter of 200 million birds, to Africa and Europe. The virus has
killed at least 124 people, most of whom have had close contact with infected
birds. Scientists caution that the virus could mutate into a form that spreads
easily among people and could spark an epidemic, but no one knows whether it
will reach the U.S. or develop into a strain of deadly flu that can be transmitted
easily by humans.
The training comes as bird flu experts voice concerns that lax testing and
awareness efforts abroad could weaken links in keeping the virus under wraps,
and as some countries are criticized for not offering more help.
Senne said the USDA has been offering assistance for years, characterizing the
first strain of H5N1 virus, isolated in Hong Kong in 1997.
"We have been providing some diagnostic systems to these countries since that
time," he said. "It's not something that we're doing that's new."
The scientists are learning how to isolate the H5N1 virus, how to collect,
preserve and ship samples. They also are studying different molecular and
serologic testing techniques.
Senne said the scientists would be given proficiency tests on what they learned.
"The primary purpose is not to make them an expert in one week ... but I think we
show them enough of these techniques that they can make the decisions which
of these are going to be most applicable for their laboratory environment," he
said.
Dr. Anna Rose Ademun Okurut, with Uganda's Ministry of Agriculture, Animal
Industry and Fisheries, said the training will help her improve testing capacity in
the eastern African country, which she said is at high risk for bird flu.
"Uganda is vulnerable because, if you look at the global trend of migrating birds,
we lie in the migratory routes," she said.
On the Net:
Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine:
http://www.vetmed.iastate.edu/
National Veterinary Services Laboratories: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nvsl/
Foreign Agriculture Service: http://www.fas.usda.gov/
A service of the Associated Press(AP)