May 1 : US researchers have created an interactive map with Google technology to track the spread of avian flu around the globe by specific host groups of birds, mammals and insects.

The research team of University of Colorado at Boulder and Ohio State University used data from the known evolution and spread of the avian flu, known as H5N1, to create an interactive ‘supermap’ of viral spread in “time and space”.

The map portrays the mutations and spread of the avian flu around the globe over time, allowing users to fly virtually around the planet and analyze movements and changes in the genomes of known avian flu sub-strains that have been sequenced since the virus was first detected in Guangdong, China, in 1996.

Much like the legends on a roadmap, colours and symbols on the supermap indicate which types of hosts carry the virus or the distribution of genotypes of interest.

According to Andrew Hill, CU-Boulder graduate student, and chief architect of the visualization portion of the collaborative research project, this allows them to test hypotheses on the geographic distribution of strains and the key genotypes that infect mammals.

He said they used the novel technology to chart the spread of H5N1 through Asia, Indonesia, the Middle East and Europe by various hosts, including its transport by specific orders of birds and mammals.

They also used the supermap to track key genetic traits prevalent in some avian flu genomes that appear to confer the ability of H5N1 to more readily infect mammals, including humans, he added.

“This is a completely new method of integrating and sharing knowledge about disease spread, giving people a quick and easy way to make sense of the changes,” said Hill.

CU-Boulder ecology and evolutionary biology Assistant Professor Robert Guralnick, a study co-author, said the map should help researchers and policy makers better understand the virus and anticipate further outbreaks.

The findings appear in the April issue of Systematic Biology. (ANI)

Tags:Bird-Flu | Infectious-Diseases