Name: Richard Fulton, associate professor
Department: Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health
Location: Diagnostic Center, 4125 Beaumont Road in Lansing
Type of research: Bird diseases
Basics of the research: The "Asian Bird Flu" is a deadly form of avian influenza virus. The disease is extremely dangerous in poultry and has caused a number of human deaths, according to the American Association of Avian Pathologists. Fulton performs tests, including animal autopsies, on birds to determine if they have the disease.
Another test he conducts, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, or ELISA, is similar to what a doctor would give a person to test for the flu, Fulton said.
Background: Fulton received his bachelors of science in agriculture economics in 1978, his doctor in veterinary medicine in 1981 and his doctorate in pathology 1991, all from Purdue University.
Social impact of research: "The bird flu can spread very quickly," Fulton said. "The government needs to respond very quickly."
Fulton said he visited Rwanda, Africa last May to "evaluate their avian influenza disease control program."
He said he assessed how they would respond and what they would do if the disease was to ever reach their part of Africa.
"I trained them on wearing protective equipment so they didn't become infected when they have to go out and investigate," Fulton said.
He said the disease had not yet reached Rwanda, which is why his training was important.
People who come in close contact with birds — mainly poultry — are at risk of getting the disease, but it hasn't developed the ability to spread from person to person.
In certain countries, people bring their chickens into their homes to protect them from two- and four-legged predators, Fulton said.
The virus can be transferred by the movement of infected poultry or poultry products, migration of wild birds, purposeful or agroterrorist introduction and human infection of poultry, according to The American Association of Avian Pathologists.
The influenza can not be spread to humans by consuming properly cooked foods because the heat from cooking kills the virus.
Poultry suspected of carrying the disease is not sold in stores because of existing USDA regulations.
