"Migrating birds create flu bonanza for scientists to study" - Kathy Young
Huge flocks of famished birds scour the sands of Delaware Bay for the tiny greenish eggs an army of horseshoe crabs lays every spring. It’s a marvel of ecology as shorebirds migrating from South America to the Arctic time a stop critical to their survival to this mass crab spawning. It’s also one of the world’s hot spots for bird flu — a bonanza for scientists seeking clues about how influenza evolves so they just might better protect people. Experts like Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, director of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute and professor of microbiology, medicine and infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, say it’s important to know how flu changes in nature. “Now this virus, in general, stay in birds,” said Dr. Garcia-Sastre. “But from time to time, some of these birds may jump into a different host.”
- Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, PhD, Director, Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute, Professor, Microbiology, Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
