U.S. expands bird flu screening

Malaysia reports another two outbreaks

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(CNN) -- Detection of the highly pathogenic avian flu virus H5N1 inside the United States could come as early as this year, as government officials unveiled plans to increase monitoring and expand screening of migratory birds that could bring it.

"We are closely monitoring the rapid spread of the H5N1 virus overseas and we now believe it is likely that we will detect it within our borders in the U.S.," said Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, who on Monday was joined by U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt for the announcement.

But Johanns added, "It is critically important for the American public to understand that a detection of this virus in birds does not signal the start of a pandemic among people."

The joint plan outlines five strategies for early detection of the virus in migratory birds: sample testing of live wild birds; testing wild birds that are sick or have died; sample testing of hunter-killed birds; monitoring and testing of sentinel animals such as backyard poultry flocks; and environmental sampling of water and bird feces.

"The interagency surveillance strategy is designed to help us find the disease as soon as possible after it enters North America and then take the appropriate steps to protect public health." Norton said.

The plan also calls for immediately establishing a quarantine area around infected birds and restricting movement into and out of that area to prevent the spread of the virus; humanely destroying birds and disinfecting the areas; stepping up testing throughout the region to ensure that the virus does not spread; and lifting the quarantine only when testing shows the area free of the virus.

Scientists believe the variations of H5N1 currently in Southeast Asia are most likely to arrive in North America by way of Alaska first because it's a crossroad for bird migration flyways.

The USDA plans to collect 75,000 to 100,000 samples from live and dead wild birds in 2006. And it will collect 50,000 samples of water or feces from high-risk waterfowl habitats across the country.

The secretaries took care to emphasize that discovery of bird flu in the United States will not mean humans will immediately start getting sick.

"At this point, if you are a bird, it's a pandemic; if you are a human being, it's not. It's as simple as that," said Leavitt. "However we are not excused from concern. While there is no evidence that the virus is passing from person to person, we do see this virus circulating in birds all over the world.

It is a highly lethal virus when it gets into human beings and there is no human immunity."

Malaysian outbreaks

Meanwhile, two new outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain were confirmed in poultry in a northern Malaysian state, the national news agency Bernama reported Tuesday.

Tests have confirmed the virus in Changkat Legong and Titi Gantung in Perak state, Bernama said. Changkat Legong borders the Changkat Tualang area where 41,000 birds were culled between Thursday and Sunday following an outbreak there of H5N1 according to The Associated Press.

On Monday, the government announced an outbreak of the disease in neighboring Penang state and the H5N1 strain was also detected in four villages outside Kuala Lumpur in February, indicating that the virus is spreading from central Malaysia to northern Malaysia, AP reports.

The H5N1 virus has spread across parts of Asia, Europe and Africa. There have been a 178 human cases worldwide, and 98 deaths.