LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – FOX5 is continuing to track the bird flu in Nevada as the first human case was detected in a dairy farm worker this week about an hour east of Reno. When there are concerns about illness in any wildlife species in Nevada NDOW will investigate. Wild birds infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPIA), better known as bird flu, are carrying the disease to new areas when migrating which can then spread to domestic birds and animals. Bird flu is also now killing wild birds, everything from raptors to geese to waterfowl, some of the remains are being sent to the state lab near Reno for testing.
Thursday, FOX5 went inside the NDOW lab near Reno.
“Today we have a Great Horned Owl and a Golden Eagle that are suspects,” shared Dr. Nate LaHue, Nevada Department of Wildlife Health Specialist, while performing a necropsy on a dead owl taking full precautions wearing PPE, face mask, eye protection, and gloves. The samples he takes will be sent to the National Veterinary Science Lab in Iowa to confirm and determine what variant of the virus the raptor died from. It showed no obvious outward signs of why it died which Dr. LaHue says is extremely common with bird flu.
“Unlike some other diseases that take time, HPAI kills them really fast, falling out of the tree, looking totally fine. We get a lot of reports of, ‘Oh, I found this owl-like right directly under the tree’…They look like pretty normal healthy birds and it’s only when we then send those tissues in that they can look under a microscope and see some subtle changes,” Dr. LaHue explained. The goal of these tests: identify bird flu hotspots. They are testing not just wild birds but also other wild animals which are also being trapped and swabbed.
“It’s circulating in a huge number of animals…We’ve seen some pretty incredible mortality rates in mammals,” Dr. LaHue revealed. Dr. LaHue stated there’s also been outbreaks in waterfowl. Ducks are big carries. If you come across a dead wild bird anywhere in Nevada, NDOW wants to hear about it. “We’re especially interested in some of those rare raptor species. You know, falcons, eagles if you do happen to find those,” Dr. LaHue reported.
NDOW has a mortality reporting form on their website: Report Sick or Dead Wildlife They won’t pick up every bird especially if they already have a positive diagnosis in the area. However, they say still having that information even if they don’t test that animal is useful.
While NDOW is responsible for the testing of wild birds and animals, the Nevada Department of Agriculture along with the USDA are also performing aggressive testing in domestic birds and animals. Approximately 23,000 Nevada dairy cattle are under quarantine after positive detections in six herds.
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