Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis are collecting bird droppings at Delaware Bay to learn how avian influenza evolves as shorebirds that carry the virus land in the area during migration periods. Bird flu poses a global public health threat if it adapts to spread easily among humans. The latest strains of bird flu, such as H5N1, have proven to be highly pathogenic. The team at St. Jude has researched Delaware Bay for four decades and works with local wildlife conservationists to monitor the shorebirds’ health and fecal samples in the bird flu hot spot. The scientists test the feces and study the viruses obtained, searching for mutations and factors that can make the virus more dangerous and affect humans and wildlife. Researchers say the stakes are high as they study the rising threat of bird flu and seek to prevent its spread.
