After the Birds Have Gone

The words “avian influenza” – more commonly referred to as “bird flu” – still have a scary ring to them, even a few years after the massive media coverage from Asia. While the stories have all but disappeared from American news, researchers around the world continue to focus on avian influenza viruses, tracking their movements, and working to prevent their spread and contain outbreaks.

Dr. Richard Slemons and Dr. Robert Gates at The Ohio State University are some of those researchers. They monitor northern Ohio wetlands for influenza viruses, determine how they might enter the Lake Erie ecosystem, and assist wildlife and human health experts in making decisions to protect waterfowl and humans. In a recently completed project funded by Ohio Sea Grant, the research team wanted to determine how long influenza viruses could be expected to stay viable in Lake Erie wetlands after they are introduced by migrating birds.