Dozens of chickens deployed to the front line of bloodborne virus detection

Bitten up to 1000 times a day, chooks develop antibodies which are an early warning system for potential outbreaks

An uptick in mosquito-borne viruses including Japanese encephalitis has meant reloading a longstanding weapon in the public health arsenal — chickens.

The NSW Sentinel Chicken Surveillance Program was hatched in the 1970s and initially based in four local government sites: Leeton, Griffith, Hay and Deniliquin in western NSW.