H7N9 flu

[chickengeorgeto]

I came upon this while reading my e-mail today. No one knows yet, but this H7N9 flu strain may be serous or not serous at all. The thing I don't like about it is that the poultry that are infected by the H7N9 virus don't show any symptoms, so the FDA, USDA, DHLS, etc may decide to kill all the chickens that they can get their hands on and let the chicken gods sort it out.

Until more information is available I would keep a low profile and I would certainly not re-home any chickens that were strange to me. The flock you save may be your own.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/russell...ach-21-in-china-death-total-unchanged-at-six/

 

[trailchick]

Yeah, I saw that ...

Here is another article on it.

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/201...d-flu-underscore-grim-fears-reports-show?lite=

This article discusses the steps CDC is doing to study & research for vaccines.

Scarier than the last AI scare.

 

[trailchick]

and more:

Canadian Broadcast
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2013/04/12/flu-vaccine-h7n9-china.html

New England Journal of Medicine
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1304661


and more. This last link shows a map where the case are confirmed:
http://www.uq.edu.au/vdu/VDUInfluenza_H7N9.htm

 

[crickettoo]

Thanks for the links everyone. I especially liked the Virology Down Under webpage. I'm fairly new to backyard chickens and wasn't paying attention to this during the last bird flu (H1N1) scare. The thing that is worrisome to me is that the disease doesn't cause much sickness in chickens. So, what will happen to backyard flocks if the illness is found in the US? Would backyard flocks be tested? If so, how often?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

This is not a sure outcome to the new H7N9 bird flu virus recently found in China, this is just one possibility.

The same thing will happen in this country that happens in China. That thing is that a squad of DHLS or CDC types dressed in hazmat suits will descend on your back yard. They will be caring plastic bags with dry ice in them. They will stuff your fowl in these black bags and as the dry ice "melts" the carbon-dioxide it gives off will suffocate your chickens. This is very likely how China goes about it.

A quick test to see that your chickens are covered in feathers is likely the only test any chicken will get before it is bagged. There will be a national emergency declared and civil liberties like due process and saying pretty please will be a non starter. You can sue the FDA, DHLS, or the CDC after wards if you like, that is if they say that you can sue them, this last statement is part of the Constitution.

Time will be of the essence and the big problem with your chickens is that, your chickens are chickens. That makes your chickens a living, breathing, mobile, petri dish waiting to grow off any new germ or virus that any chicken is hosts to. In other words the only way for the FDA etc to protect any chicken from the H7N9 flu virus is to kill all the chickens that they can get their hands on so that these chickens can't act as a repository or incubator for the H7N9 virus. Another way to look at it is like the CDC is a forest ranger setting a smaller back fire to deny a larger forest fire fuel and room to grow.

If this description is a little too graphic, remember that I warned you about willy-nilly "rescuing" or treating sick birds until after any bird flu hysteria is past. I would also discourage anyone from allowing pigeons to congregate or eat with their flock. If H7N9 makes it to our shores the only thing that will protect your chickens is keeping them inside and isolated from routes of infection like other chickens, pigeons, other domestic fowl, and wild birds. In that case free ranging will be the worst thing that you can do for your fowl, not the best.

The idea of testing you chickens for the H7N9 virus implies that there is a cure for the H7N9 virus. There is currently no cure for any virus that affects either man nor beast, and especially there is no test or cure (that I know of) for the H7N9 bird flu.

 

[Mskayladog]

This is very worrisome. Read here
http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/viewtopic.php?t=5229

 

[chickengeorgeto]

All human deaths are tragic. But so far there is no indication that people in China are dropping like flies from the H7N9 bird flu. The danger however is far from over.

If any of you attend poultry shows and especially poultry shows on the West Coast, a quick course or even a refresher course in bio-security may be in order.

http://www.worldpoultry.net/Home/Ge...asures-for-backyard-poultry-farming-1133824W/

http://www.worldpoultry.net/Broiler...ames-poultry-wet-market-as-AI-cause-1243380W/

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_ex...ep09/tahc_biosec_pro_poultry_pro_78_sep09.pdf

 

[danjag]

I don't think they'll test or flocks they will just come in and exterminate them:

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportu...&id=ce8e757c13dc800af9ef4ae261fd5982&_cview=1