Hi Nick, Judi, Gail, and the COBIRDS community, Thanks for the terrific and detailed feedback. I had to think on this for awhile before forming a coherent, thoughtful response. Here are a couple of questions and thoughts, which I have opened up to the birding community writ large because it appears they are invested in conservation as well…
1. How often are bird die-off clusters currently reported in general? 2. I agree with the implication that Colorado would receive forewarning from elsewhere indicating A/H5N1 if it arrives within the migratory flyways on this hemisphere. On our end, we are concerned about social habituation / desensitization to H5N1, especially after the A/H1N1 pandemic. Therefore, it is likely the initial signature will be missed and / or there will be a time delay in reporting. 3. While public health may not have the funding, wherewithal, interest, (whatever) to pursue investigation of bird die-offs at this point, it remains worthwhile to discuss socially here and in other online communities with a vested interest in avian conservation. 4. Upticks in bird die-offs due to an expected "bad" year of West Nile, as observed in other countries that have had endemic WNV for years, is of interest to provide warning for human health mitigation. 5. Totally understand the caveats Nick provided below and have observed these kinds of considerations in the companion animal communities. Lastly, I hope you all will consider me an invested community resource here in Colorado to assist in bridging the gap between avian health and human health implications. We, in a multitude of other countries around the world, have paid particular attention to avian (and other animals such as equines, pigs, livestock, poultry, etc) disease as it may relate to an imminent or ongoing human health issue. Cheers, Jim James M. Wilson V, MD Haiti Epidemic Advisory System (HEAS) Executive Director Praecipio International Washington-Houston-Port au Prince [email protected] +1.571.225.3671 Praecipio International is a charitable non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of operational biosurveillance worldwide. On Apr 1, 2011, at 4:18 PM, Nick Komar wrote: > Dr. Wilson, I will take a crack at responding to your query. In 2002-5, in > reaction to the news stories on West Nile virus (WNV) and bird deaths, there > was a fairly active effort among the Colorado populace to report dead birds > to local health departments. Consequently, many birds were tested, and maps > of WNV-positive counties based on avian mortality surveillance were > frequently updated on the Colorado state health department website (and on > CDC and USGS websites that presented national data). At the time there was > some (limited) discussion of the relationship between WNV and avian mortality > on the COBIRDS listserve. However, with the media hype, public participation > (outside of the COBIRDS listserve) in the avian mortality surveillance > project was substantial and productive. > > After 2005, media attention to WNV waned, and with diminishing public > resources, State and County health departments could not use the data derived > from avian mortality surveillance to alter their disease prevention programs > significantly, so the program dissipated, with the exception of a few small > CDC-sponsored projects in collaboration with a couple of County health > departments and several wildlife and raptor rehabilitation programs. I was > the Principal Investigator of these projects, some of which are ongoing. In > fact, I will provide information on such a project at the upcoming State > Zoonoses Conference in Denver on April 14th. > > There has also been a little bit of discussion on the list serve of avian > diseases such as H5N1 avian influenza and House Finch conjunctivitis, but in > the grand scheme of things, I don’t think the birding community plays a big > role in finding sick and dead birds and getting specimens to testing > facilities. > > This could be due to a few possible explanations, including (but not limited > to): > 1. Birders are aware that handling sick or dead wild animals requires a > permit > 2. Birders that do turn in carcasses to authorities are more likely to > submit specimens to museums rather than health departments, because of the > (largely correct) assumption that the specimen will be put to better use in > the museum. > 3. The common message from Health Departments that specimens will no > longer be tested is frustrating to concerned citizens > 4. Serious birders (i.e. the several hundred members of this listserve) > do not constitute a large enough portion of the general public to find enough > dead or sick birds to get the attention of the health authorities. > 5. The majority of dead birds found by the public are a result of car > strikes, window kills, nest mishaps and other common causes that do not > present a public health threat > 6. H5N1 avian influenza has not yet been detected in North America > 7. Many serious birders (e.g. listserve members) are more interested in > birds as a recreational distraction rather than for conservation, and thus > pay a lot more attention to living birds than to dead birds. > 8. Even the conservationists within the birding community mostly (and > rightly) believe that the major threats to bird populations do not come from > disease but rather from habitat loss and degradation of a healthy ecosystem > due to human activities > > With all that said, I do believe that testing apparently innocuous single > carcasses of birds and other wildlife could be a very important means of > pathogen discovery and help prevent a potential epidemic of something novel > (like WNV when it first arrived) or even a potentially catastrophic pandemic > (like the threat of a mutated virulent zoonotic flu virus, such as that > presented by H5N1 avian influenza). But to make such surveillance efforts > worthy, there needs to be buy-in from the public (birders could definitely > help in this regard) and from well-funded government public health agencies > (these don’t currently exist, and it seems like they won’t exist for the > foreseeable future). > > There are additional complexities that could be discussed regarding the > reporting of dead birds, and testing carcasses for disease, but I probably > have said enough for this forum. > > I would be happy to discuss these issues further outside of COBIRDS. > > > Nick Komar > ******************** > Nicholas Komar, ScD > Arbovirus Diseases Branch > Centers for Disease Control and Prevention > 3150 Rampart Road > Fort Collins CO 80521 > > Tel: 970-221-6496/Cell: 970-567-4970 > Fax: 970-221-6476 > E-mail: [email protected] > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > James Wilson > Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011 10:58 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [cobirds] Wild Avian Disease Surveillance... > Importance: High > > Greetings everyone, > > I am a pediatrician by training who lives now permanently in the West Slope > of Colorado. My presence in this group is from the standpoint of integrated > operational biosurveillance- in other words, the pan-species monitoring of > infectious disease (or "biological") events that may represent an emerging > risk that extends beyond the primary species (e.g. birds) and may extend to > other species such as equines, swine, livestock, or most importantly, humans. > > I've attached my bio below for background. Our team was heavily involved in > West Nile virus surveillance, detection and warning of H5N1 avian influenza > worldwide, and the recent emergence of pandemic H1N1. So, avian disease is > of ongoing key interest to us. My purpose here is to support your efforts in > the protection of Colorado's avian wildlife and by extension, protection of > agricultural and companion animal species, with an eye to disease that could > directly affect humans. > > My question to the group is what did you see during the emergence of West > Nile in the early 00's? Was this group active in noting bird die-offs? > > Cheers, > > James M. Wilson V, MD > Haiti Epidemic Advisory System (HEAS) > Executive Director > Praecipio International > Washington-Houston-Port au Prince > [email protected] > +1.571.225.3671 > > Praecipio International is a charitable non-profit organization devoted to > the promotion of operational biosurveillance worldwide. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. 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