Bret Marsh, right, the Indiana State Veterinarian, answeres questions from the media Monday, Jan.18, 2016, on the avian flu situation in Dubois County at the Center for Technology, Innovation and Manufacturing at Vincennes University Jasper Campus in Jasper, Ind. Animal health officials investigating a bird flu strain that affected 10 turkey farms in southwestern Indiana have added 156,000 chickens to the list of thousands of birds being euthanized.
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The US Department of Agriculture has stepped in to contain the avian flu virus from spreading any further, ordering more than 400,000 chickens and turkeys to be euthanized at 10 different farms, the Associated Press reported.
An outbreak of bird flu – strain H5N2 – devastated the United States poultry industry previous year, causing the death of 48 million chickens and turkeys.
Indiana State Board of Animal Health spokeswoman Denise Derrer says the H7N8 virus has not been found in any other flocks since Saturday.
In a related development, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that, because H7 viruses have infected people before, so human infections from the new strain could occur, though the risk to the general public is low.
Limited genetic data from preliminary diagnostic tests last week showed this H7N8 virus originated from North America, while last year’s strains had roots in Europe and Asia, government officials said.
“I have been saying that bird flu would return, and it was a matter of “when” not “if”, said Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder in an MDA news release. “These birds are going to be depopulated as part of the requirement under global trade agreements”. Of the birds, about 62 percent are turkeys while the rest are chickens that were not infected, but were considered to be in “dangerous contact” with an infected turkey flock.
Farmers also have strengthened cleaning and security practices in a bid to keep out the virus, with many requiring workers to change their shoes before entering barns and barring delivery trucks from getting too close to poultry houses. “Sampling of wild birds in the affected areas in IN will most likely help in determining the source of the infection”. A USDA spokeswoman says the viral strain has not yet been found in wild birds, and that suggests it could have developed in wild birds that overwintered in southern Indiana. Everyone hopes this outbreak doesn’t turn into what happened in 2015.
US negotiators have worked with trading partners in the past year to focus restrictions on infected counties or states, instead of blocking shipments from the entire country, said Toby Moore, spokesman for the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.
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