Yukon Kuskokwim Nushagak science

RE: Villagers living in bird flu’s flight path

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Site Search Tags: Kipnuk, LATimes

The story is not timely. However, it is good to be reminded that the possibility of pandemic influenza (highly pathogenic avian influenza) still exists. For us, it is still good to be reminded to take the usual precautions with wild game that have been shared at this blog.

This story will be published tomorrow. It is located at the LA Times website

• http://tinyurl.com/y3klxj LA Times

and at the KTLA TV website

• KTLA http://ktla.trb.com/news/la-sci-kipnuk22oct22

2006-11-09 New link

• http://tinyurl.com/y57bxo

This TinyURL redirects to:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-s
ci-kipnuk22oct22,1,6204427,full.story?ctrack=
1&cset=true

Currently the video is flaky (unstable).

A few things to point out. Although the Feds had know about the sampling plan for over a year (sampling started in 2005) the news was not known until after the 2006 sampling and news coverage began. See early March, RE: Google news proxy
and Google news proxy measure — H5N1 public involvement

The flyers came out in mid-March, A Few Facts about Avian Influenza in Alaska, just after the news announcements of the 2006 sampling.

The strong effort to advertise there is no bird flu and that birds can be hunted, continued even after bird flu, including H5N1, was confirmed in the tested birds. This information has not been as widely disseminated. There has been little follow-up on local preparedness.

Alaska villagers living in bird flu’s flight path
What has brought the Eskimos sustenance for generations now may carry the deadly virus into North America

By JIA-RUI CHONG, Times Staff Writer, October 22, 2006

• http://tinyurl.com/y3klxj LA Times

Soon, latex gloves appeared on store shelves and Wild West-style posters started popping up around town: “Wanted: Birds of the Delta.” Researchers camped out in the town’s tribal council offices, preparing for trips to nearby Kwigluk Island with vials, swabs, nets and needles.

They came bearing a warning: The wild birds that the Yup’ik have hunted for millenniums may be carrying the first traces of the deadly bird flu virus from Asia into North America….

The nervousness has waned through the summer, said the 58-year-old ex-Army sergeant, but still, “We don’t joke about what we eat here.”

…The coastal location is one reason health officials chose Kipnuk as one of 10 villages for testing. The other main reason is the vigor of its hunters.

Kipnuk villagers hunt intensely through the summer, stocking up on birds, which they usually roast into a crispy meal or boil into a soup made with onions, rice and macaroni. Peter keeps two freezers stuffed with various birds — some plucked, some not….

…The health corporation began preparing residents in the spring with a newsletter outlining some of the dangers of bird flu.

The newsletter’s advice was simple: Don’t eat, drink or smoke when cleaning birds, and cook the meat thoroughly.

This has caused some problems.

One of the delicacies of tundra life is half-cooked eider. ..

As a chill set in, he disemboweled his birds in the traditional style: hooking one finger into the cloaca and tearing out the intestines with one motion.

He wiped his hand on the damp grass.

Peter said he was worried, but not that worried, yet. “Nobody’s gotten sick,” he said….

http://tinyurl.com/y6vyqv Video– “Drawing a line in the Tundra” [sic]

• Yup’ik Eskimos hunting (photos) - http://ktla.trb.com/news/la-birdflu-pg,0,4967582.photogallery?coll=ktla-news-1

I found the newstory had a mixed voice; an element of sympathy but also exoticism. Untouched by the reporter and by us is the neccessary larger discussion of “tradition” vs “modernism”. [If tradition weren’t evolving it wouldn’t be tradition and we would be extinct as a community. If Cabela’s and shotguns and freezers are indigenous hunting tools (and they are) so too are hand sanitizers and safe food handling. We know from our own history that once people get sick, in 1918, in 1950s, in 2005, it is too late for prevention. Part of tradition is getting ready; we need our institutions to catch up.]

It’s interesting, too, that The Birds are again the harbingers of human disasters (see Google news proxy measure — H5N1 public involvement). We forget to our peril that, to paraphrase Pogo, we have seen the environment and it is us.

Site Search Tags: cloaca, Kipnuk, hunter, LATimes, geese, video

I mentioned this earlier

• Where is… Bethel water? - http://ykalaska.uniblogs.org/?p=277

but here is a release of information from a different source. I can’t yet find the photos.

In the meantime, here are illustrations from the Kuskokwim Delta (click on the images to go to where you can see larger sizes.)

2005

2006

2002

2006

• Where is… 1978 mouth of Kuskokwim River -
  http://ykalaska.uniblogs.org/?p=230

• Where is Y-K Alaska (NASA) -
  http://ykalaska.uniblogs.org/?p=35

• Where is Y-K Alaska (Google map) -
  http://ykalaska.uniblogs.org/?p=36

• http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-10/uoaf-sps101206.php

Shrinking ponds signal warmer, dryer Alaska
50 years of remotely sensed images show dramatic change

FAIRBANKS, Alaska–A first-of-its kind analysis of fifty years of remotely sensed imagery from the 1950s to 2002 shows a dramatic reduction in the size and number of more than 10,000 ponds in Alaska. The analysis, by University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists and published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research, indicates that these landscape-level changes in arctic ponds are associated with recent climate warming in Alaska and may have profound effects on climate and wildlife.

Over the past 50 years, Alaska has experienced a warming climate with longer growing seasons, increased permafrost thawing, an increase in water loss due to evaporation from open water and transpiration from vegetation, and yet no substantial change in precipitation.

The shrinking of these closed-basin ponds may be indicative of widespread lowering of the water table throughout low-lying landscapes in Interior Alaska, write the authors. A lowered water table negatively affects the ability of wetlands to regulate climate because it enhances the release of carbon dioxide by exposing soil carbon to aerobic decomposition.

“Alaska is important in terms of waterfowl production and if you have a lowering of the water table that could have a potentially huge impact on waterfowl production,” …

“No one has done a state water-body inventory of this magnitude,”said Brian Riordan, lead author and data manager for the Bonanza CreekLong-Term Ecological Research program at UAF. “It will allow landmanagers to stop speculating about possible water body loss and begin to address the implications of this loss.”

Using black and white aerial photographs from the 1950s, color infrared aerial photographs from 1978-1982, and digital images from the Landsat satellite from 1999-2002, Riordan outlined each pond by hand. …

The main study area was the subarctic boreal region of Interior Alaska, which spans more than 5 million square kilometers bounded on the north by the Brooks Range and on the south by the Alaska Range. To contrast the semi-arid, subarctic sites of discontinuous permafrost in Interior Alaska, the authors also selected a study area in the Arctic Coastal Plain where the temperatures are much colder, the growing season much shorter, and the permafrost is continuous, and a more maritime site south of the Alaska Range.

All ponds in the study regions in subarctic Alaska showed a reduction in area of between 4 and 31 percent, with most of the change occurring since the 1970s. The ponds in the Arctic Coastal Plain showed negligible change….

Blogged with Flock

but Flock has problems with multiple posts while claiming errors. I had to tidy up by hand.

Technorati Tags: global+warming, tundra, permafrost, drought, wetlands, UAF, Alaska
Site Search Tags: global+warming, tundra, permafrost, drought, wetlands, UAF, Alaska

Once again, we know bird flu exists in North America; we have confirmation it is H5N1; but it is the low pathogenic variety (LPAI). (keep cooking your meats. update your preparedness.)

——————————
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:25:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: ProMED-mail
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, mallards - USA (MD)(02): LP, USDA report

AVIAN INFLUENZA, MALLARDS - USA (MD)(02): LOW PATHOGENICITY, USDA REPORT
****************************************************
Date: 12 Sep 2006
From: Joseph Dudley
Source: Official USDA release [edited]

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The cranes gather, alternately along the Rio Grande or the Kuskokwim River, for their trip.

two from Science in the News, an E-mail newsletter from Sigma Xi, mentioned previously as a source especially for science teachers (ΣΧ FYI for Sci TEK teachers, linked in sidebar) Thought experiments — Forum Debate Rights in a Pandemic

Probing the Mysterious Migration of Swans Suspected in Spread of Avian Flu
From The New York Times (Registration Required)

Tracking avian flu sometimes comes down to moves that have a lot of slapstick potential, like sprinting down a muddy Mongolian beach trying to tackle a scared but temporarily flightless swan.

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The geese have been gathering this week and last for their trip southwards. They will be taking all many of their little microbes with them. (Some are dropped behind in the— diminishing over time— tundra ponds and grasses.)

The alarm has gone up in the lower 48 with expanded bird sampling across the US. It is very unlikely there is any HPAI to accompany the birds, but it is easier to get a cloaca swab than to give tourists the bum’s rush.

The geese, swans, and cranes are among the last to leave. The little birds left about 3-4 weeks ago. The only thing left for combating the flying biting insects is a good swat. And a hard freeze.

view south of tundra pond in Bethel, 2006aug25

Site Search Tags: cloaca, geese, ponds, tourists, sampling, HPAI, tundra, cranes, 48

Kind of. At least one can find the totals, after 4 months.

http://wildlifedisease.nbii.gov/ai/

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The first is the Pro-Med summary, which is generally a more reliable source of news than the general news media. Following are the general news coverage. [results]

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 23:06:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: ProMED-mail
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, mute swan - USA (MI): LPAI, susp.

AVIAN INFLUENZA, MUTE SWAN - USA (MICHIGAN): LOW PATHOGENICITY AVIAN INFLUENZA, SUSPECTED
…
LPAI commonly occurs in wild birds, where it typically causes only minor signs or no noticeable signs. These strains of the virus are not a human health concern. This includes LPAI H5N1, commonly referred to as the North American H5N1. This strain of low pathogenicity avian influenza is very different from the more severe high pathogenicity HPAI H5N1 circulating overseas, which is commonly referred to as the Asian H5N1.

Evidence of LPAI H5N1 has been found on 2 occasions in wild birds in the United States. In 1975 and 1986, it was detected in wild ducks. These detections occurred as part of routine sampling. LPAI H5N1 has also been detected in Canada, most recently in 2005.

[emphasis added]

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Our little birds contributed to new scientific knowledge! I always let the children look through my Cabela’s polarized fishing spectacles, to identify polluted water or comprehend the effect of polarized light on sky, clouds, and vegetation color. (I once tried to get donations of the inexpensive glasses as Pollution Peepers, for the VISTAs/IGAPs to use as environmental prizes instead of candy and snacks.) Anyway, resetting the magnetic compass with polarized light is a clever solution, as the magnetic north wanders all over the place.

By Dennis O’Brien, Balto Sun reporter, Originally published August 11, 2006

…Biologists have known for decades that migrating birds use celestial cues and the earth’s magnetic field to find their way across continents and oceans.

But researchers from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg and Lund University in Sweden say experiments with savannah sparrows in Alaska show the birds take readings of polarized sunlight at sunrise and sunset and use them to periodically recalibrate their magnetic compasses….

Rays of ordinary light vibrate in different directions, but polarized light rays vibrate in only one direction - making them difficult for us to see. Birds that migrate at night use them at sunrise and sunset, when the rays are most evident, Muheim said.

In the study, Muheim caught 50 savannah sparrows in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge and threw off their celestial compasses by placing polarized light filters over their cages for an hour at either sunrise or sunset….

Read the rest here

http://tinyurl.com/hh35p

Site Search Tags: migration

Honolulu Advertiser - Honolulu,HI,USA
… These are the early reports and they give no indication that bird flu
introduced to Alaska by other migratory birds, perhaps from Asia, have
killed the kolea …
http://tinyurl.com/hrll7

[I heard one last week up here. But the summer is nearly gone.]

Site Search Tags: Kolea, plover, Polynesia

I’m glad YKHC included the reference to where one can sign up directly for the Fish & Wildlife news releases. 2006-07-28 Turns out this is not a valid address for the list-serv and the Alaska regional news service evidently no longer exists, “Instructions on how to subscribe to the fws-alaska-news listserver for the Alaska Region (Region 7). http://www.r7.fws.gov/ea/subscribing.html”

YKHC Messenger 06-06 No Bird Flu
Samples show no Bird Flu found in YK Delta … has tested 1210 samples taken from subsistence harvested birds in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area.
…

http://www.ykhc.org/1236.cfm

This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google…

from the press release in the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp. newsletter

Samples show no Bird Flu found in YK Delta

As of June 13, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with State and Federal partners, including the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation and the United States Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center laboratory in Madison Wisconsin, has tested 1,210 samples taken from subsistence harvested birds in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area….

You can subscribe to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Region listserver, to have our press releases sent to your e-mail address automatically, by sending an e-mail message to: listserv@www.fws.gov. Please indicate that you would like to subscribe to FWS-Alaska news and give your name in the body of the message.

Because our birds fly way south for winter…

Regional action plan for avian flu, Tuesday, July 25, 2006

THE Sectretariat of the Pacific Community has been tasked with drafting an action plan in the event a human case of the avian influenza is reported in the region.

This was resolved at the weeklong meeting in Nadi this week which focuses on the implementation of the Pacific Regional Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=45318

http://www.spc.int/lrd/index.htm

…The aim of the project is to establish immediate measures to prevent and/or respond to a possible outbreak of avian influenza and pandemic human influenza in the region. The focus will be on building capacity within Pacific Island countries for surveillance and diagnosis of avian influenza, and other emerging diseases, and emergency response planning. Activities will cover both public and animal health….

“In the Pacific, human influenza outbreaks can happen at any time of the year, being more influenced by the flow of people from temperate regions than by the local climate. Many islands are visited by large numbers of tourists and there is the potential for new strains of influenza to be transported back to Pacific Island communities in the Northern and Southern hemispheres….

Although there is no certainty that an influenza pandemic will occur, it is a potentially serious threat that must be addressed. The Pacific is vulnerable to the introduction of pandemic influenza through the movement of people, migratory birds and legal and illegal trade in poultry and poultry products. To respond to such a threat, Pacific Island countries need effective preparedness plans and the resources and capacity to implement them. While some countries have developed, or are in the process of developing preparedness plans, and some surveillance and laboratory capacity, none of these have been tested for a pandemic scenario. The priorities identified by regional governments include improved surveillance, development and testing of plans, strengthened public health measures, and inclusion of more sectors/stakeholders in planning and implementation.”

Site Search Tags: Polynesia, Pacific+Island

As students of this site are aware, avian influenza already exists in the waterfowl and domestic fowl of North America (contrary to the many public services announcements in May and June 2006). It is a natural phenomenon.

http://tinyurl.com/fok3n
Archive Number 20060704.1834, Published Date 04-JUL-2006
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, ostriches - South Africa, H5N2: OIE

“[First of all, this is _not_ the Avian Influenza virus that has infected humans. We have previously seen this virus — Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N2 (HPAI H5N2) — in North America and Europe. In 1983, a now historic outbreak in Pennsylvania in the USA was attributed to H5N2. Mexico (1994) and Texas, USA (2004) also had North American HPAI H5N2 outbreaks. Italy had HPAI H5N2 in 1997 (Italy also had HPAI H7N1 in turkeys in 1999- 2000). A complete table of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks in poultry by subtype until the end of 2003 is available at

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_03_02/en/

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Published: July 24, 2006 

http://tinyurl.com/rwplc
Scientists of tub toy fame will tell their tale in Sitka
BEACHCOMBERS FAIR: Flotsam revealed much about ocean currents.
By KATE CHENEY DAVIDSON, Anchorage Daily News, Published: July 24, 2006

This is a nice experiment. The information is needed in the overall understanding of pandemic infections and of emerging infections. People are part of the environment, but we mediate our interactions through culture. In the H5N1 example, we domesticate waterfowl and therefore provide a new natural pathway. This experiment is designed to understand the characteristics of that pathway.

[Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like the other participants in the research have been included in its design (public involvement) which means that only parts of the study have been thought through. For example, sometimes “subjects” want to be identified in reports. They contribute as much as the other experts to the success of the questions asked.]

(see if you can provide alternative hypotheses to test, that is, what other reasons may account for finding antibodies, the record of exposure, or for not finding antibodies?)
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The Spring 2006 issue of Alaska’s Village Voices includes articles on Bird Flu. The issue is in pdf format, available to download here

http://www.ruralcap.com/aboutrc/villagevoices.cfm

In early March 2006 the Federal agencies announced their bird sampling activity for the summer. An immediate question from the communities here was—what to do with dead birds? (If the birds are dead from a highly pathogenic virus, no one wants to leave them on the tundra, right?) The BrdFlu Hotline did not then have an answer, except that the carcasses should be disposed of. “Do you mean fling them away?” (We are off the road system. There are no sanitary landfills. Dead birds will be found away from Villages and who wants to bring them home to throw in the dump?) The hot line was going to get back to me with a consensus.

In the meantime, down below is what other areas have suggested. These suggestions (double- bagging) are mostly for areas with few occurrences of multiple dead birds and with access to landfills. The state of Alaska suggestions are for poultry farms. I still don’t know enough to provide suggestions. Here are some things to consider (keep in mind the idea is to lessen risk)—
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This just came in through my Google news alert. I cannot find any mention on the state’s flu pages.
http://www.avianflu.alaska.gov/ or here http://www.pandemicflu.alaska.gov/ or here http://www.adfg.state.ak.us/news/dept_releases.php

“Article Last Updated: 06/09/2006 12:49:03 PM AKDT

Bird testing in Alaska reveals no sign of flu
Associated Press

A spokesman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says no highly pathogenic avian H5N21 flu virus has been found in Alaska birds sampled so far. About two-thousand samples have been collected and tested.

Division of Wildlife Conservation director Matt Robus says most of the birds tested were killed by hunters in southwest Alaska and there are no indications that the virus has reached the state.”

Read the rest here–
http://www.ktva.com/alaska/ci_3919388

One of my list-servs I subscribe to for news to share with schoolteachers (see link to side ΣΧ FYI for Sci TEK teachers) is ISEN-ASTC-L a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions. More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org

A posting from today’s issue is

Currently we have on of our exhibit developers, Karen DeSeve up in the Bering Strait, doing work in anticipation of future experiences for the International Polar Year [IPY]

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Date: Thu, 31 May 2006
From: ProMED-mail
Source: EU press release IP/06/704, 31 May 2006 [edited]

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/ 06/704&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

The European Commission and the Community Reference Laboratory (CRL) for Avian Influenza in Weybridge have published the results of the surveillance for avian influenza in wild birds carried out in the EU over the past 10 months. The extensive epidemiological data were presented today [31 May 2006] at the FAO/OIE International Scientific Conference on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds, which is taking place in Rome this week.

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Read Ann Potempa’s article to find out where the swabbing begins.
Experts will test birds for signs of avian flu
and read
Sampling Bird Cloaca

USDA Madison, Wisconsin laboratory
http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=84869&ntpid=0
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Interagency Public Information Work Group (retrieved 28 May 2006)

Some things to note now—the “interagency” doesn’t include

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I don’t yet have these as a listing of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), mostly because I am not sure what is frequently asked. However, here are some questions that the YKHC Office of Environmental Health has received. I will link to sources of answers as I get them organized. Feel free to continue asking questions below as comments or to provide answers to these questions, as comments.

How do you know if birds have bird flu?

YKHC: You don’t. Unlike human’s it is nearly impossible to tell if a bird is sick with the flu.

Avian influenza is quite common in birds and often occurs without symptoms or without making the birds sickly. Like other diseases,

The clinical signs are very variable and are influenced by factors such as the virulence of the infecting virus, species affected, age, sex, concurrent diseases and environment. See

http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjects/en/health/ diseases-cards/avian.html

If a bird looks skinny & not normal, what do you do? Does it have bird flu?

YKHC: No. It most likely is suffering from something else.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Anchorage Daily News has some photos of how the birds are caught and sampled, including this one.

http://www.adn.com/life/health/birdflu/story/7739824p-7651487c.html