Massachusetts scientists will travel to the Arctic shore in an attempt to further study the deadly bird flu virus. Specialists from a conservation science organization from Plymouth will head to Alaska this month to look for any signs of avian influenza in migratory birds which choose this path to return from Asia, the most affected continent by the disease. No sign of any infection has yet be found in the Western Hemisphere, but alarms are raised all across America. Birds which fly thousands of miles to breed on the Alaskan coast are being closely monitored - golden plovers, red knots, buff-breasted sandpipers, phalampes. These take advantage of rich food resources as well as a relatively protected environment. During the winter they fly south to settle on South Shore coastal areas and beyond. Some will eventually reach the tip of South America, giving reasons to fear that the virus could be transmitted anywhere on the continent.
Although scientists believe legal or illegal importation of domestic fowl is much to be blamed for the rapid spread of the virus through the Eastern Hemisphere, populations of wild birds migrating are also a source for the recent infections. China and Russia are the closest countries to Alaska to have suffered heavily from bird flu outbreaks in recent months.
