# Presentation: 531972

## Avian Influenza:Surveillance of Wild Birds

**U.S. Department of the Interior**
**U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service**

**H. Dale Hall, Director**
**U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service**

**Notes:**
Good morning.  I am very pleased to be here to highlight the work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in surveillance of wild birds for the potential arrival in the U.S. of the Asian strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus.   

We appreciate the support that Congress provided to the President’s request for funding for this effort.  

And I’m also pleased to be here with the U.S. Geological Survey and the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, highlighting the collaborative interagency approach that has defined this wild bird surveillance effort from the beginning.  

Migratory bird management is at the foundation of the mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  For nearly a century, we have been conserving waterfowl and working with state agencies to manage migratory bird populations and hunting.  

The emergence of the Asian strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza poses risks to wildlife health, domestic animal health, and public health.  

The Service has brought its expertise in migratory bird ecology to the table in developing this interagency strategy with our partners, and we are fully committed to effective implementation of the strategy this year.

Early detection of the Asian H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is a key part of preparedness for the country’s public health and agricultural sectors. 

(Photo: Common Eider in Alaska)

## The National Strategy

- Preparedness and Communication
_**Surveillance and Detection**_
- Response and Containment

**Notes:**
The Service participated in developing the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, which was released by the White House last November.   

One aspect of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s role under that National Strategy is related to disease surveillance and detection in wild migratory birds.   To that end, the Fish and Wildlife Service has worked with an interagency team to draft an Interagency Strategic Plan for early detection of Asian H5N1 in wild migratory birds.  

This Interagency Strategic Plan will guide federal agencies in carrying out one aspect of the Surveillance and Detection pillar of The National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza. 

## Other USFWS Roles Within The National Strategy

- Protecting public and employee health on Service lands
- Regulating trade in wildlife and
-     wildlife products
- Smuggling interdiction

**Notes:**
While I’m going to focus the rest of my talk on our activities this year related to surveillance of wild migratory birds, I do want to also mention some other Fish and Wildlife Service activities that support avian and pandemic influenza preparedness. 

The Service will be engaged in protecting the health of both the people and the wildlife that use and visit our 542 national wildlife refuges and 69 national fish hatcheries across the country. 

Through issuance of permits allowing trade in protected wildlife and wildlife products, we will work with APHIS and the CDC to regulate minimize the risk of the Asian H5N1 virus arriving in the U.S. through shipments of wild birds or other wildlife. 

And the Service’s Law Enforcement program coordinates closely with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspectors to enforce federal wildlife laws, stop shipments from countries covered by trade bans, and interdict and seize smuggled birds or bird products. 

## Interagency Strategic Plan

_**Surveillance and Detection**_

- Live birds

- Hunter taken birds

- Investigation of mortality events

**Notes:**
But now let me focus our wild bird surveillance efforts. 

The draft Interagency Strategic Plan for wild bird surveillance was developed by an interagency group representing wildlife health, domestic animal health, and public health communities. While the threat posed by the Asian H5N1 virus is the first issue in recent memory that has drawn these three communities together so closely at the federal level, avian influenza preparedness clearly calls for such collaboration.  

In 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will focus on implementing 3 strategies of the Interagency Strategic Plan:

    - the surveillance and sampling of live, apparently healthy birds, 
    - sampling birds taken by sport and subsistence hunters, and 
    - investigating occurrences of sick or dead birds.

## Surveillance and Detection

**Notes:**
The Fish and Wildlife Service will focus in 2006 on surveillance of live birds and hunter taken birds in Alaska and the Pacific Flyway, consistent with the science-based geographic priorities established in the Interagency Strategic Plan.

The surveillance effort focuses on Alaska and the Pacific Flyway because these geographic areas are used by migratory bird populations that have the highest risk of being exposed to the Asian H5N1 virus.  Alaska lies at the crossroads of several bird migration pathways that could potentially allow for movement of the Asian H5N1 virus from Asia to North America.

The migration patterns of a shorebird, the ruddy turnstone, illustrate this point.   There is a breeding population of ruddy turnstones that extends from Alaska through northern Siberia.   Approximately 20,000 birds nest in Alaska.  This population migrates south to overwinter, with a portion migrating to southeast Asia and a smaller portion migrating to the west coasts of the United States and Central and South America.

The potential exists for the birds that migrate to southeast Asia to pick up the virus and carry it to the nesting grounds in Alaska.  It might then be transmitted to other individuals in the breeding population and carried elsewhere within the migratory range of the species.

The risk of this occurring is uncertain at this time, but the potential for the virus to be carried by this or other bird species lead the interagency group to make Alaska and the Pacific flyway priorities for our wild bird surveillance. 

(Photo 1: Nick; Photo 2 Duck Hunting probably not Alaska; Map provided by Gary Frazer)

## Flyway Councils

- Migratory bird management within each flyway by the Flyway Councils
- FWS will work with each Flyway Council to step down national strategic plan
- Individual flyway states will step down plan to state-level surveillance plans

**Notes:**
Migratory bird management by state and federal wildlife agencies is coordinated within each of the North American flyways by Flyway Councils.

The Service will be working with those Flyway Councils to step down the national Strategic Plan to the flyway level.

The Service will then work with individual flyway states to step it down to state-level surveillance plans.  

(Map: Figure 2-2 from Avian Influenza Response Plan)

## Live Bird Surveillance

- FWS biologists and cooperators will collect samples from live-captured migratory birds
- Collections will be made as part of current FWS and USGS monitoring work
- New field stations will be set-up in remote locations

**Notes:**
Service biologists and cooperators will collect samples from live-captured, apparently healthy migratory birds.

Both the Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey will be adding avian influenza surveillance to the work conducted from already established field stations.

The Service will also be establishing new field stations in remote areas of Alaska as needed to sample targeted migratory bird populations.

All samples collected by the Fish and Wildlife Service will be submitted to the USGS’ National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin for analysis.  

Photo 1 – Alaska somewhere; Photo 2 – Izembek NWR (2005)

## Hunter-Taken Bird Surveillance

- Waterfowl check stations are used in waterfowl harvest estimates
- Provide an opportunity to collect additional samples
- Alaska subsistence hunting sampling will occur in Spring
- Sampling will also occur during hunting seasons in areas where migratory birds stage during migration or over-winter

**Notes:**
Another surveillance strategy that the Service will implement is sampling of birds taken by hunters.  

The Service will start by supporting sampling of hunter killed birds taken in subsistence hunting by Alaskan natives later this spring. 

The Service will later work with State wildlife agencies to collect samples during hunting seasons in areas where targeted migratory bird populations stage during migration or where they over winter. 

Check stations for waterfowl hunting are operated by federal and state wildlife agencies to collect information used in waterfowl harvest estimates.  Hunter check stations provide an additional opportunity to collect samples. 

(Photo: Aleutian Canada Geese flock flying over wetland)

## Enhanced and systematic investigation of sick or dead wild birds offers another opportunity for detection
FWS increasing in-house capability and that of state wildlife partners
Focus primarily on Alaska, Pacific Flyway, and the Pacific Islands

- FWS increasing in-house capability and that of state wildlife partners
- Focus primarily on Alaska, Pacific Flyway, and the Pacific Islands

- Sick or Dead Bird Investigation

**Notes:**
If migratory birds bring the Asian H5N1 virus into the United States, an enhanced and systematic investigation of sick or dead wild birds offers a third important strategy for detecting this disease.  

The Service will be working to increase its in-house capability, and the capability of its state fish and wildlife agency partners, to provide rapid and effective response to disease outbreaks in wild birds.

We will start by focusing in Alaska, the Pacific Flyway, and the Pacific Islands; as well as conduct general surveillance for avian influenza in mortality events in the most likely species throughout the United States. 

(Photo: Typical death pose of a bird - USGS)

## Sick or Dead Bird Investigation

- Success of the surveillance strategy depends on:
- Early detection of sickness and death
- Immediate assessment of the field event (descriptive epidemiology)
- Rapid reporting and submission of appropriate biological specimens to USGS
- Rapid, accurate, and consistent                         diagnosis and confirmation
- Immediate reporting of diagnostic                           results
- Pre-planned contingency and 		            response training

**Notes:**
The key to success of this surveillance strategy involves:

    - the early detection of sickness and death, 
    - the immediate assessment of the field event, 
    - the rapid reporting and submission of appropriate biological specimens to the U.S. Geological Survey,
    - rapid diagnosis and confirmation, 
    - immediate reporting of diagnostic results once confirmed, and
    - pre-planned contingency and response training for the occurrence of avian influenza.

## Collaboration is Key

**Notes:**
The key to our collective success is collaboration. 

The Service will be directly involved in several aspects of wild bird surveillance and will help support and coordinate the efforts of our State fish and wildlife agency partners in implementing the Interagency Strategic Plan. 

We will collaborate with the U.S. Geological Survey for sample analysis, diagnosis of disease outbreaks and training.  USGS brings essential, world class wildlife health expertise to this effort. 

We will work with the Agricultural Department for coordination with other surveillance activities and with the domestic animal health community.  We view our wildlife surveillance efforts as the front line of an effective biosecurity framework for the Nation’s domestic poultry industry.  

The Service will assist and support the surveillance efforts of state fish and wildlife agencies to implement the Interagency Strategic Plan, coordinated through the flyway councils. 

And finally, the Service will benefit from the advise and expertise of the public health officers in the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Park Service as we prepare for a potential occurrence of this disease in wild migratory birds.  

(Logos) & (Photo: Common Eider in Alaska)