利用Google地理信息系统对抗禽流感

Poultry  experts  are  turning  to  sophisticated  computer  imaging  to  help  them  prepare  for  the  expected  arrival  of  the  deadly  bird  flu  virus  in  the  United  States  later  this  year.

Geographic  Information  System  (GIS)  technology  is  being  used  to  pinpoint  the  location  of  commercial  poultry  flocks,  feed  mills  and  processing  plants,  said  Sherrill  Davison,  professor  of  avian  medicine  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.

The  information  will  be  used  to  help  create  buffer  zones  around  an  infected  flock  and  contain  the  H5N1  strain  when  it  makes  its  U.S.  appearance.

Since  the  beginning  of  the  year,  experts  have  also  been  using  Google  Earth,  which  combines  satellite  imagery,  maps  and  the  company's  search  engine  to  span  the  globe.  It  gives  extra  details  including  the  location  of  buildings,  schools  and  roads  near  large  chicken  and  turkey  farms  and  production  facilities.

"Twenty  years  ago  we  had  to  drive  around  the  countryside  and  find  the  chicken  farm  that  reported  a  disease,  but  now  everything  is  on  a  mapping  system,"  Davison  told  Reuters  in  a  recent  interview.

"Now,  we  can  very  quickly,  within  about  an  hour,  know  exactly  how  many  farms  are  in  an  (affected)  area.  Then  we  can  know  which  farms  to  send  teams  to  for  extra  sampling.

"It  may  be  there  is  an  infected  flock  but  they  are  out  in  the  middle  of  nowhere  and  so  the  probability  of  spread  to  another  farm  is  very  minimal,"  she  said.

The  H5N1  virus  that  has  infected  birds  and  chickens  in  Asia,  Africa  and  Europe  and  caused  more  than  120  deaths  there  is  expected  to  arrive  in  North  America  this  summer  via  migrating  birds  flying  from  Asia  to  Alaska  and  southwards.

Testing  of  wild  birds  is  already  underway  in  Alaska  but  no  signs  of  the  bird  flu  virus  have  yet  been  found.

Davison  and  colleagues  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  were  among  the  first  to  develop  GIS  technology  to  monitor  poultry  flocks  in  the  state  in  1998.

They  have  since  used  it  to  detect  and  control  --  by  swift  culling  --  minor  outbreaks  of  avian  diseases  in  Pennsylvania,  which  ranks  third  in  the  United  States  in  chicken  production.

Other  U.S.  states  have  since  adopted  the  system.

"Many  states  do  have  this  type  of  a  mapping  system  which  helps  with  a  rapid  response  that  reduces  the  spread  of  disease,"  Davison  said.

"We  began  using  Google  Earth  to  help  us  locate  poultry  farms  more  exactly.  In  the  past  we  knew  the  chicken  house  was  on  a  parcel  of  land  but  now  we  can  zoom  in  and  tell  exactly  where  on  the  property  it  is.  ...  It  is  another  tool  to  add  into  our  rapid  response  program." (责任编辑：泉水)

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利用Google地理信息系统对抗禽流感