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CAP MAI, NEW JERSEY – One morning in May, birdwatchers and scientists descended on Reed Beach with gunpowder and a cannon. They hid in the grass and mud, waiting for the right moment to shoot.
The hours passed when the sun drifted in the middle of the sky, then finally the rifle powder ignited and the thud sent a frenzy to more than 100 stunned shorebirds. They spread their wings to fly into the air, then quickly collapsed to the ground, trapped in large nets drawn from the barrel.
In an instant, dozens of people hid in the dunes of the beach, rushing into the sand to collect the birds. Some influenza researchers went straight to the backs of the creatures.
This was not part of a reenactment of war or a violent uprising. It was a plan that was carefully designed to help scientists fight against a dangerous but almost invisible enemy: a possible influenza pandemic that could come from the bowels of migratory birds.
Traveling birds are the primary hosts of influenza viruses, which means that they can harbor deadly influenza strains that could be transmitted to chickens, pigs and humans. Every flu pandemic the world has ever seen came from birds like these.
On the beach, the goal is to take a close look at the buttocks and feces of these birds in hopes of gathering information that could help scientists prevent the next deadly flu pandemic. This stretch of beach is particularly conducive to bird research, as thousands of very small and well-attended waders – small enough to fit in the palm of your hand – flock during migration to gorge on high-protein iron eggs on horseback Crabs.
This is a ritual scientists have been participating in every May for more than three decades, when migratory birds stop along the New Jersey coast as they head north from North America. South. For about three to four days, while the birds are feasting, the researchers rub their throats and bump (technically they call them "cloacas") and collect hundreds of dung samples.
Their goal is to uncover clues as to what might look like the next dangerous bird flu virus – while there is still time to prepare.
We are unfortunately not prepared for the next pandemic
Fieldwork on Reed Beach has helped researchers discover that birds are the primary natural hosts of pandemic flu.
The last major pandemic flu – the H1N1 flu virus dubbed the Spanish flu – killed 50 million people in 1918. US soldiers brought the Spanish flu to the battlefields of the First World War before the disease spread to # 39 in New Zealand, but it came originally from birds.
Most scientists agree that the next pandemic is a question of when, not if. Experts believe that if an influenza pandemic similar to that of 1918 were to occur today, it could infect one in three people alive. Without a good vaccine to fight it, the virus could kill more than one in ten people on the planet, more than 900 million people.
Among the most recent pandemics are the "Asian flu" of 1957-58; the 1968 Hong Kong pandemic, which killed at least 1 million people; and the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, which reportedly killed 284,000 people. Researchers have convincing evidence that each of these strains also came from bird casings.
The interconnected nature of our modern lives due to air travel and other daily migrations of people and food means that the probability that a deadly virus can be hit hard only increases.
"The world must prepare for pandemics with the same seriousness of preparation for war," Bill Gates said last year, on the occasion of the centennial of the Spanish flu. "If history has taught us anything, it's that there will be another deadly global pandemic."
A pandemic simulation developed by the Johns Hopkins Health Security Center estimated that if the "moderately contagious" and "moderately lethal" virus were released today, it would kill as many as 150 million people in 20 countries. month. It's almost half the population of the United States.
For birds, on the other hand, influenza viruses are relatively mild and result in gastrointestinal problems with little impact on their health. The reason why some influenzas become man-transmissible – then proliferate around the world, with devastating consequences – while others do not remain mysterious.
"At the moment, we do not understand which threats pose a threat or not," said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert at St Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is contributing to the development of the annual flu vaccine. , told Business Insider.
By studying the flu virus in birds, scientists hope to discover new strains that have not yet reached humans and find ways to fight against these diseases, by developing vaccines or by creating antiviral drugs. (like Tamiflu) likely to make the flu less severe.
"About 20% of them are pooping against the flu"
The more species of birds interact with each other (in places where they congregate such as markets, barns or beaches), the more likely it is that their different genes of the flu will mix. Greater interaction between the flu virus and the virus offers more opportunities for a virus to transform into a new strain that can spread to humans.
That's why Reed's Beach is one of a kind: up to 25 types of seabirds rub shoulders with each spring. There is the red knot, which travels more than 9,000 miles from the southern tip of Argentina to the Canadian Arctic, as well as vermilion turnstiles from Brazil, as well as sanderlings, semipalmated sandpipers and several species of gulls.
It's a breeding ground for the hemisphere of a crap of birds in a hemisphere. (Similar research is being conducted in poultry markets in Bangladesh, chicken and duck farms in Egypt's Nile Delta and wild ducks in Alberta, Canada.)
"These beautiful, healthy birds – about 20% of them are plagued by the flu," said influenza expert Robert Webster, who identified the hotspot for New Jersey's coastal birds in 1985, at Business Insider. "Where do so many infected birds come from? Where did they get their viruses? We do not really know."
Influenza viruses can be transformed in two ways. The first is a routine process called genetic drift, in which a virus multiplies and undergoes small genetic changes over time, as it replicates. The second occurs when two viruses mingle, which can create new (and dangerous) insects capable of infecting chickens, pigs or humans.
In waterfowl, there are at least 16 different subtypes of "A" influenza – the type responsible for pandemics in humans – (two additional subtypes of influenza A have recently been discovered in the bald mouse). Researchers studying influenza strains on Reed's Beach have found close relatives of the 1918 Spanish flu (in the H1N1 group), as well as other strains resembling the Hong Kong pandemic virus.
"You'll never know that anyone has caught bird flu unless you're really sick," said Pamela McKenzie, researcher in the field of influenza at the St Children's Research Hospital. Jude, who is taking part in the annual beach birding frenzy, told Business Insider she collected shitty samples.
Birds also harbor strains that we have not seen in humans for over 50 years, Webster said. That means that if they jumped into people now, our immune system would be in shock.
"We know that H2 viruses are still present in wild birds and that they are a potential threat to humans," he said. "We fear that there is no immunity in the human population, or only in the elderly, that is why we are concerned about it".
If an avian flu breaks out, public health officials must deploy some anti-flu weapons. Stored antiviral drugs, called neuraminidase inhibitors, may help, provided they are delivered within two days of a sick person. Otherwise, the scientists would need to develop a new vaccine, but it could take months and be ineffective if the virus is transformed again before the end of the vaccine.
"Even with the best technology we have, it takes six months to make a new vaccine," said Webster. "And meanwhile, the virus is spread all over the world and if it's a deadly virus, it will kill many people."
This is another reason why scientists are working to develop a universal flu vaccine that would provide long-term protection against all types of influenza, unlike the annual vaccine.
Trapping birds with guns, nets and tall grass
Trapping birds on Reed Beach is a multi-hour operation that can be easily foiled if the birds are surprised.
Before the big gunfire, researchers used walkie talkies to talk to each other at different locations around the bay. Slowly, they worked together to trap the birds in a small cove. Then, after the projectile net dropped the birds onto the ground, the researchers unpacked their flasks and swabs.
In addition to the live samples, the researchers also collected about 600 samples of poo on the beach using long-stem Q-tips.
None of these scientists seemed too concerned about the risk of aversive influenza on the beach – they did not even wear gloves to take poo samples (although they did so when rubbing bird cloacas). Instead, they simply maintain good hygiene on the sand and sand, knowing that they are more likely to get the flu by touching a doorknob or sitting next to a sick person.
Once all the samples were packed in coolers and ready to go to the laboratory, the research team left the birds alone on the beach. By the end of May, most birds had flown north; their reserved beach reopened to the public in June.
In the laboratories, researchers are currently conducting DNA analyzes to determine which strains of influenza were circulating on the beach this year, how they compare to previous years and whether or not there is a new flu. This work will take about six months.
Until now, after years of field research, scientists have learned which genes make an influenza strain more likely to be harmful and more likely to pass from birds to poultry, to pigs and humans. This year's new genetic information will be part of this catalog of influenza gene segments spanning three decades, expanding the database that allows researchers to better track – and potentially combat – pandemic influenza.
"You're looking for key components of the gene sequence that make a gene more dangerous," said McKenzie.
But scientists said their research was far from over.
"We would like to know if we can predict which viruses in wild birds pose a real threat to pigs, poultry or humans," Webster said. "We do not know the answers, but by examining the genome of the viruses present in wild birds, in humans, etc., the goal is to be able to predict which viruses are actually dangerous."
This research cycle will begin again next May when birds and bird hunters return to the New Jersey coast.
"In the end, we dream of a universal vaccine," Webster said. "In an ideal situation, we would have four or five antiviral drugs and a universal vaccine, so I could die happy."
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