“Sentinel Chicken” sounds like an unsuccessful spin-off of Crusader Rabbit, but in New South Wales, Australia, it’s a thing, with sentinel chicken surveillance a part of the health department’s mosquito-borne disease surveillance programme. The chickens, which are mosquito magnets, are regularly tested for the presence of antibodies for flaviviruses such as Murray Valley Encephalitis, Japanese Encephalitis and Kunjin viruses.
