Department of Wildlife tests birds for avian flu

100 birds sampled near Moses Lake since mid-July

GRANT COUNTY — Three mallard ducks sat in a cage at the Winchester Wasteway near Moses Lake Sept. 7, waiting to be tested for avian flu.

After being tagged, sexed, aged and then sampled for the virus, the birds were released back into the wild.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is testing ducks for avian influenza at the wasteway until Sept. 13, after spending a month and a half gathering samples. More than 100 birds were sampled at the site. Of the 60 that have results back, all tested negative for the highly pathogenic strain of bird flu.

No cases of the strain were discovered in Washington state. Personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are testing Washington birds as part of a nationwide effort to stay on top of the virus.

"This is one of the biggest wildlife disease efforts ever initiated," said Kristin Mansfield, a veterinarian with the WDFW.

To test the ducks, wildlife personnel lure them into a cage. The birds are tagged and their sex and age are determined. Female mallard ducks have orange beaks, while males have greenish yellow beaks. Age is determined by the makeup of their feathers. The birds are then swabbed for the virus and sent to a lab for testing.

The samples taken Sept. 7 were sent to a lab in Madison, Wis. Results take about two weeks.

The lab determines first if a sample has one of 144 strains of the flu virus, and if a sample does contain the virus, the lab tests it again for H5N1, the highly pathogenic form of the virus. If the sample is H5N1-positive, the lab would determine how pathogenic the virus is by growing it and injecting it into domestic chickens, which are the most susceptible to it.

Younger birds are being tested because they seem more likely than older birds to facilitate the disease, said Mikal Moore, waterfowl specialist with the department.

Birds are being tested in the wetland because the virus is transmitted through fecal matter in water.

"We know that [North American birds] will interact with birds from Asia when they are all up north for the summer," Mansfield said.

Moore said the department is unable to determine if the ducks at Winchester Wasteway hatched at that site or somewhere else.

The virus is mostly confined to birds, with 200 cases of human infection in Southeast Asia, Mansfield said. The department is concerned the virus could become stronger and more susceptible to humans, or combine with human strains of the virus, also making people more susceptible, she said.

"Right now, it doesn't spread to humans very easily," she said.

Signs of the virus in domestic chickens include depression, lack of appetite and poor balance. If many chickens die suddenly, that could also indicate the virus is present.