Hunt is on in Alaska for deadly bird flu virus

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, May 26 (Reuters) From the recently thawed tidal flats that edge Anchorage to the tundra of western Alaska, the hunt for the deadly avian influenza virus is on.

Biologists and rural hunters have begun testing wild birds to search for signs of the H5N1 virus that has infected birds in Asia, Africa and Europe and caused more than 120 deaths on those continents.

But if the virus is invading North America through Alaska, there was no outward sign of it among the shorebirds pecking for food in the mud flats of Anchorage on a sunny, picture-postcard morning this week.

With snow-capped Mount Susitna looming behind them, hungry birds dug into the water and mud for food before continuing their migration to Arctic breeding grounds, just as they do each spring.

The few that have flown into the wide nets pitched in the mud appear hale, hearty and free from any infection, said the government biologists who have been watching them for the past week.

''Everything we've caught has been very healthy and flying and looking like good shorebirds should,'' said Bob Gill, a US Geological Survey biologist who is part of a team monitoring migrating birds in Anchorage.

Alaska is considered North America's most likely entry point for the virus, and federal and state agencies have launched an aggressive testing programme here.

Samples from about 15,000 birds, both live migrants and hunted fowl, will be taken over the summer and autumn and evaluated in laboratories for signs of the virus. Twenty-eight migrating species are targeted for testing because of their travels between bird-flu hotspots in Asia and Alaska.

Government agencies have set up a hotline for citizens to report any unusual die-offs. State and federal agencies are maintaining Web pages with detailed information about migratory birds, influenza and possible relationships between the two.

And there are numerous public advisories, in English and in Alaska Native languages, giving virus-avoiding precautions to hunters and anyone else who might encounter infected birds.

''Our challenge is trying to get information out that's useful and pertinent and would mean something,'' said Lynda Giguere, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

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