Flu surveillance lacking

摘要

When researchers created strains of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that could spread easily between mammals, they argued that their work would aid in surveillance, by identifying mutations to watch for in the wild. But an analysis by Nature paints a dire picture of how animal flu viruses are being monitored. In 2010, the world's poultry population was estimated at 21 billion, yet only around 1,000 flu sequences from 400 avian virus isolates were collected - and many countries that are home to billions of farmed chickens, ducks and pigs contributed few or none.