Des Moines Register
06-20-06
Scientists from 19 nations flock to bird flu talk
The veterinarians want to be ready if the disease hits their countries.
By ANNE FITZGERALD
REGISTER AGRIBUSINESS WRITER
Ames, Ia. — The global battle against a deadly strain of avian influenza is getting
a boost this week at Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine.
Twenty-four scientists from 19 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America have
traveled to central Iowa for a week-long training workshop on testing for a highly
pathogenic strain of bird flu.
Earlier this year, two other groups of scientists from overseas participated in the
"train-the-trainer" program being held at the ISU College of Veterinary Medicine.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is funding the program, and USDA scientists
from Ames and elsewhere serve as instructors.
Most participants are veterinarians working in their homelands on the front lines
of defense against H5N1, the deadly strain of bird flu that has swept flocks of
birds in several countries during the past year, in some cases killing humans.
Anna Rose Ademun Okurut, a veterinarian from Uganda, said the training at
Iowa State would help her improve the effectiveness of her country's national
laboratory, which she runs.
Uganda is vulnerable, she said, because resources are limited and because
three migratory bird routes pass over her country. Wild birds are thought to be
the primary carriers of the deadly bird flu.
So far, the strain blamed for human deaths in Turkey, Indonesia, China and other
countries has not been detected in Uganda.
The deadly strain has not been detected in the United States either, said David
Suarez, an Iowa State-trained veterinarian who is a research leader with the
USDA's avian disease research unit in Athens, Ga.