A study has a significant bearing on the hackneyed joke about chickens and their numerous reasons for crossing roads. In Florida, there’s a good chance that the chicken crossed the road because it had completed its year-long conscripted service as a disease sentinel, a sort of early alarm signal for mosquito virus activity across the state.
Mosquito control programs maintain hundreds of chicken coops from the Panhandle down through Miami. Once a week, throughout large portions of the year, officials take a small blood sample from each of several chickens and send them to the Florida Department of Health, where they’re tested for antibodies to common mosquito-borne diseases, such as West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis. If the results are positive, the state will warn residents to be especially wary of mosquitos until the danger is past.
Read more about Disease Experts Team Up With Florida Museum of Natural History To Create a Forecast for West Nile Virus.
