Outbreaks of bird flu could be prevented by monitoring the migration routes of wild birds.

Greater surveillance could help to provide early warning of threats 

Outbreaks of bird flu could be prevented by monitoring the migration routes of wild birds, new research suggests.

Writing in the journal Science, researchers explain how migrating birds could help to spread avian flu around the world.

The experts say their findings reinforce the importance of maintaining strict exclusion areas around poultry farms to keep wild birds out.  

Furthermore, greater surveillance of wild birds at known breeding areas could help to provide early warning of threats specific to bird flu virus and people, they add.

“Bird flu is a major threat to the health and wellbeing of farmed chickens worldwide,” said Dr Samantha Lycett of the University of Edinburgh. “Our findings show that with good surveillance, rapid data sharing and collaboration, we can track how infections spread across continents.”

In the study, the researchers analysed migration patterns of wild birds infected with the deadly H5N8 virus. The team then compared the genetic code of viruses isolated from infected birds collected from 16 different countries.

Their findings show that H5N1 was most likely carried by long-distance flights of infected migrating wild birds from Asia to Europe and North America via their breeding grounds in the arctic.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) can kill up to 100 per cent of birds they infect within a matter of days.

The study was conducted by the Global Consortium for H5N8 and Related Influenza Viruses and involved scientists from 32 institutions worldwide.