Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Earth monitoring

Vigilance is not enough

Nature volume 450, pages 791–792 (2007)Cite this article

Global surveillance is key to tracking potential pandemic viruses such as H5N1. But we need to share samples more rapidly, increase testing in endemic areas and track more than one virus, argues Walter Boyce.

We shouldn't be surprised that random sampling failed to detect what is apparently a rare event: active H5N1 infection in migrating, healthy wild birds. And failing to find H5N1 can be good news if the goal is early detection in non-endemic areas, as it was for many of the wild birds sampled in Europe and the United States.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Walter Boyce is director of the Wildlife Health Center, and co-director of the NIH Center for Rapid Influenza Surveillance and Research, at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, USA.,

    Walter Boyce

Authors
  1. Walter Boyce
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Boyce, W. Vigilance is not enough. Nature 450, 791–792 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/450791a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/450791a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing