It all started with a few text messages in late April. Several well-known Canadian scientists — Toronto-based infectious diseases specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch, Saskatoon-based virologist Angela Rasmussen and Winnipeg-based microbiologist Jason Kindrachuk — were all chatting about the unprecedented outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in U.
S. dairy cows. By then, American officials had tracked cow cases for roughly a month, and harmless viral particles were showing up in processed, pasteurized milk.
But on this side of the border, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) was clear its team wasn't yet undertaking milk testing . The trio of Canadian academic researchers saw a missed opportunity. "I think we all were thinking independently: Why aren't we doing milk testing?" recalled Kindrachuk, an associate professor at the University of Manitoba.
"If we can simply get milk off the shelves and [run tests], this would seem like a great initiative for us to undertake." Second Opinion Bird flu in U.S.
cows caught scientists by surprise. Canadian research has seen it coming since 1953 Canadian dairy farmers urged to consider goggles, gloves and other bird flu protections Rather than waiting for the government to launch that kind of surveillance, the scientists spearheaded a coast-to-coast initiative to watch for H5N1 in Canadian milk. "Within the span of about two minutes .
.. we had a flurry of emails out to partners and collaborators across all the provinces," Kindrachuk said.
The result.