Ferreting out bird flu from duck poo

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-05-27 04:00

International

Forget sniffer dogs, trained ferrets can detect the presence of bird flu in duck poo, according to international research. The ferrets were trained to display a specific behaviour called an active scratch alert, in response to markers of bird flu infection. The ferrets were even able to detect bird flu in the presence of ducks that had other viruses.

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Trained ferret performing test

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conference: PLOS ONE

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Organisation/s: Colorado State University, USA

Funder: This research was supported by the intramural research program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center and cooperative agreement #16-7422-1255-CA. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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