JUNEAU -- A state lab in Anchorage is ready to join a nationwide effort to detect early on whether a deadly bird flu virus has reached the North American continent.
The Department of Environmental Conservation Environmental Health Laboratory was certified last week to test for avian influenza in what will be thousands of fecal and intestinal track samples collected from wild and domestic birds around the state this year.
The National Animal Health Laboratory Network approved the lab, making it one of 47 state-funded labs around the country that will conduct the bird flu surveillance testing.
State veterinarian Bob Gerlach said the certification was an arduous process that will ensure the samples are properly tracked and protocols are in place to protect the samples and the staff from contamination.
"They want to make sure that, one, we get accurate and consistent results, and we never have a situation where we can't contain a virus or infectious agent," he said.
Gerlach expects as many as 200 samples a week will come to the lab over the summer. That will include samples taken by field crews with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The lab will test for H5 and H7 subtypes of the virus. Any positive results will be sent on to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, for a full analysis to see if it matches the highly pathogenic virus that has killed or led to the slaughter of millions of birds in Europe, Asia and Africa. At least 128 people also have died of the disease, apparently from contact with sick birds.
So far, there have been no reported cases of the virus in North America.
The Department of Interior's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also collecting samples. Those are being tested at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis.
Some 19,000 mostly live, wild and migratory birds in Alaska will be tested this year. That's out of 75,000 to 100,000 birds the U.S. government hopes to test nationwide this year.
Gerlach said a couple handfuls of samples have already arrived at the lab. The samples until now were being sent, packed on ice, to a lab in Pullman, Wash., by overnight mail.
He said the in-state lab will save time and expense.
In announcing the certification today, Gov. Frank Murkowski also signed into law a measure that gives the state veterinarian legal authority to isolate sick animals. Until now, the state has had to depend on the voluntary efforts of animal owners.
Gerlach said it was another important tool in efforts to strengthen the state's animal health safety net. Over 75 percent of emerging infectious human diseases come from animals.
