Wild Birds Only Partly to Blame in Spreading H5N1

摘要

Experts studying the H5N1 avian influenza epidemic have long been at odds over whether wild birds play a major role in spreading the deadly disease. Last week, after poring over the latest surveillance data, a group meeting in Rome reached a consensus: Wild birds play a role in the virus's huge geographic jumps, they said in a statement at the end of the meeting, but the main means of transmission is the commercial poultry trade. With that question at least partially settled, one research group introduced a new puzzle by raising doubts about whether the right sampling techniques are being used in wild bird surveillance programs.