HEADS UP AVIAN INFLUENZA ALERT

[chicknmania]

ATTENTION ALL. I volunteer for an organization that cares for wildlife, including wild birds. Today the director has made us aware that she has received information that AVIAN INFLUENZA is in the US, and cases have been documented WITHIN 700 MILES OF OHIO. Considering the fact that this is migratory bird season, this is very bad news. Our flock has already been out free ranging, and I'm sure others are, as well. PLEASE KEEP EVERYONE SAFE BY REPORTING ANY SUSPECTED CASES OF BIRD FLU WITHIN YOUR FLOCK, OR UNUSUAL MULTIPLE DEATHS OF WILD BIRDS. This is serious, we have already been banned from having contact with the birds cared for by the organization, or even being allowed on the facility. I do not know how long the alert is supposed to last, but I would guess at least through mid to late May.

I know normally we are not supposed to bump up posts, but I think the Mods would understand if we keep this one bumped up, so please help!!!!

 

[WthrLady]

My signs arrived today

My coop tends to attract lookie loos

 

[Cetawin]

TherryChicken, you are correct in the statement that many infected birds show no symptoms, that is because most of them just drop dead or drop dead in mid-flight.

What Speckledhen was trying to caution you about are recent cases, within the last 2 weeks, of healthy flocks being destroyed because State Vets and the USDA did not want to test them or worse even though they tested negative, they wanted to be cautious. Feel free to google the following information...as I have been monitoring the situation closely because of a recent ban here in Kentucky because 2 wild waterfowl dropped from the sky on the Mississippi Flyway while migrating and happened to fall in Kentucky. No other cases have appeared in our State and no poultry have been affected to date.

3 cases in Georgia...Hatching eggs were ordered from a farm in Iowa that tested Negative...after shipping the eggs, that farm tested positive. The three folks in Georgia that ordered the eggs got a visit from the State vet and USDA...who took pics and videos and asked for paperwork. Without testing the existing flocks, they came and de-populated (fancy word for "killed") their existing flocks, destroyed the eggs and handed them a pathetic check to cover their costs.

17 cases in Iowa...flocks were destroyed with no testing or with negative results because they were within a certain radius of a farm who did test positive.

5 cases in Indiana .... flocks were destroyed because of suspicion of being exposed due to being within a certain radius of flocks that tested positive

7 cases in Arizona.... hatching eggs sent from a farm testing positive in Iowa, hatched chicks positive for the new strain becoming the first link to transmission through the egg/embryo. The existing flocks were destroyed, the infected chicks and unhatched eggs as well. The other 6 cases again were destroyed because of proximity without any testing results.

So what Speckledhen was trying to say is that the attitude of the State Vets and the USDA is kill first and test later. If you desire to take that chance by placing yourself on their radar with an AI test out of the blue....go for it. Should you elect to test now and draw undue attention to yourself with the usual results that have been occurring; please don't whine and complain should you get a nice phone call or letter telling you that you are in quarantine and officials will be arriving at an appointed time with a gas chamber to de-populate your flock, which the odds are in favor of. Try a private lab first.

As for the snarkiness directed at Speckledhen, she is a kind lady who was just offer suggestions and help and did not warrant the snarkiness. I on the other hand am not that kind and am much more direct. I do not appreciate my friend being slammed with snarky BS for no reason under the psuedo "Have a Blessed Day" crap. So feel free to bring the USDA to your door, piss off and Have Nice Day!

LadyHawk

Edited to add: PS you do realize there are many other illnesses that can cause sudden deaths that are NOT AI. There are many causes as well and it may behoove you to start at the beginning and start eliminating the possibilities with a clear head, logic and common sense.

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

seriously? bio terrorists? I'm sure they have much more dire plans in mind than causing a shortage in our egg supply... if it were bio terrorists they sure picked a dumb food source to go after... why chickens and eggs? it would have made much more sense to go after beef if they wanted to hurt us
seriously... I'm just waiting for someone to blame it on aliens next :/

maybe we should stop looking to blame somebody else when we should be placing the blame squarly on the shoulders of the cause.. namely ourselves and our turning a blind eye to how battery farms have operated all these years

 

[chicknmania]

Thought this was interesting...just goes to show....just saying.

Avian flu finding on Nebraska farm goes unconfirmed; quarantine lifted

Three weeks of follow-up testing on a big Nebraska egg farm never confirmed preliminary tests that showed avian influenza there, prompting an end to the quarantine of the farm, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) announced yesterday.
The move apparently marks the first time a preliminary positive finding has gone unconfirmed in this year's rash of costly H5N2 avian flu outbreaks across the Midwest. The farm, which has 3 million chickens, is in northeastern Nebraska's Knox County.
"While the chance of a presumptive positive test ending up being negative is very uncommon, we have followed [US Department of Agriculture] protocol and the disease has not been found," NDA Director Greg Ibach said in a statement. "The release of the quarantine at this farm will allow the producer to resume business as usual. Testing and monitoring of this flock will continue as an additional precautionary measure."
Today's announcement also means that 27 other Knox County sites that were quarantined because they lie within 6.2 miles of the egg farm can also get back to business, the NDA said.
The quarantine was imposed May 27 after the positive preliminary test. In follow-up efforts, the flock has been tested every day for the past 3 weeks, and all the results were negative, Ibach said.
Nebraska has had five other H5N2 outbreaks, all in Dixon County, two counties east of Knox. An additional Dixon County farm is being depopulated because of its nearness to the infected farms.
Jun 17 NDA statement

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I'm sad to see there is so much hate for the state poultry vets and the USDA. When we respond to possible AI cases, we are not falsifying test results, nor are we marking a flock positive for no reason. Depopulation zones have been shown to be an effective method of controlling AI in other countries. I believe the study was done in the Netherlands, but I'll have to see if I can find those papers again. When I get a chance to research it, I will be sure to post the published papers.

I agree that depopulation is very very sad when it happens to farmers. I have not spoken to a vet or USDA representative who enjoys making those calls, but when that is the law, it means the vet's license is on the line. I did ask my advisor about penalties for those who resist the USDA in the face of a depopulation, and she said it is a federal offense, so we are talking serious stuff here.

I do think the media is making this a bigger deal than it actually is. Biosecurity is definitely a good idea, but that should be a constant thing, not just during times of outbreaks.

If people have more questions and I can't answer them myself, I would be more than happy to ask my advisor. Her primary field of expertise is AI and I pick her brain often with questions. I learn a lot that way and I think education is the best way to kept the paranoia under a bit of control!

 

[TalkALittle]

It's also about human health. We are one mutation away from this being transmitted to humans. USDA is not the only organization testing. They are also sending samples to the CDC where genetic testing is conducted to see if the virus has mutated. Each depopulation order has as much to do with the safety of human health and the prevention of a pandemic as it does the health of the commercial poultry industry.

 

[TherryChicken]

Ok good news for here. The AG Department said they don't test them :/. So we called out vet. The vet said that it is most likely due to mommas picking up moldy dog food caused from our weather n feeding to the babies and them dying. They said even if it was AI, once it gets over 90 degrees, it kills the AI. So we're safe.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

It is transmitted much like any flu virus. Airborne, but the virus can live outside the body for a couple days.

It was identified on the west coast in wild birds last December, and domesticated birds soon after.

The primary carrier is waterfowl because of their resistance to the disease. It is on some level self limiting in many other birds.

Turkeys are especially susceptible to the disease, but there is no reason to think the Midwestern outbreaks is nothing more than that is who became infected. It could have as easily been flocks of chickens.

I have never heard of eradication zones. Can someone provide information on where that has taken place? There are quarantine zones, and where flocks test positive they are rightly euthanized.

This is a new reality, but it isn't new. Low Path Avian Influenza has been here. Other continents have dealt with this particular strain to include Europe. It was only a matter of time before we had this experience. We will see this wax and wane. Some years will be bad years, and not so bad years. It will peak during the migratory seasons, and be most common along the major flyways.

 It could be that at different times it may be prudent to confine the flock for a period of time.

 It is no reason for panic, or emotional responses. However, we should hope that people take personal responsibility with their own flocks. Private owners can do our hobby a much harm as any.

 All we can do is be aware and be responsible with our own individual flocks.

Avian influenza is generally a gastro intestinal virus in water birds, which means it is typically spread through contact with feces. In domestic poultry, it is spread through close contact and fomites (Objects contaminated by virus). It is an enveloped virus, so it does not survive that well in the environment (Most sources state 24-48 hours). However in water, as with wild waterfowl, it can persist for much longer. (http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/infectious-disease-topics/avian-influenza-bird-flu#overview&1-2)

There has never been a case in humans in the US, thankfully. AI has been around and media scares tend to play havoc in the industry. I think many people involved in the poultry industry are just hoping this will all blow over without the general media getting ahold of the story like the last time!

As for the depopulation zones, I will send an email to my advisor here are Cornell. She recently gave a talk here at an exotic animal symposium about the AI outbreak and this was in her slideshow. She's the vet in charge of the poultry extension office here and always has excellent info. I actually tried looking up the info on the USDA website, but they are pretty wishy washy on the whole protocol thing. As I understand it, it use to depend on whether the virus was high path or low path, but now they treat both of them the same way due to the viruses ability to mutate to high path in under a week. Several avian vets have said in their lectures that it is a 3 km depopulation zone with an additional 7 km surveillance zone for a total of a 10 km outbreak zone. I will check to be sure. I do know that there are several checks to be sure a test is truly a positive before culling takes place.

If I don't get back with the info right away, I apologize. I'm in the midst of a pretty busy block in my second year of vet school, but I should have some time this weekend to send an email!

 

[Buck Oakes]

Heres a tracking system of the virus

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/porta.../sa_detections_by_states/ct_ai_pacific_flyway