Avian flu found at second farm (Delaware)

Wilmington (DE) News Journal ^ | 2/10/04 | LULADEY B. TADESSE

[Gabz]

A second Delaware farm has tested positive for avian flu, state agriculture officials announced today.

The northern Sussex County farm contracts with a commercial poultry company, but officials would not identify which one. Its flock of 72,000 birds in three houses were to be killed this afternoon, officials said.

[Gabz]

This does not bode well for the poultry industry on the DelMarva Penninsula.

[Gabz]

Jusdt pinging a few folks who were on the thread about the first outbreak the other day.

Unfortunately this outbreak is one of the commercial roaster farms.

[Hurricane Andrew]

Thanks for the ping.

This is not good. The State needs to take strong quick action, whatever that may be. Now is not the time to play around.

[Gabz]

The Ag department does seem to be moving quickly. You figure they are destroying the 72,000 birds this afternoon.


Since they are saying this one is in Sussex County, only 5 miles from the one in Kent last week - I would venture to say it is probably in the Milford area........

I realize stuff like this goes with the territory - but I can't help but feel for the guy who's farm it is.

[Hurricane Andrew]

Yeah. On the local (well, if you call Philly local) news over the weekend, they had some ariel pics of guys in hazmat suits coming out of some chicken houses "in the Milford area." That's when I found out that it was the Milford area, and not "near Dover" like most early reports indicated. This latest report only confirms that. I'm just glad it's a strain that doesn't impact humans, or else I might put on a tinfoil hat just in case ;-)

[Gabz]

They are having a press conference about it at 4. Watch channel 16 out of Salisbury (WBOC)instead of the Philly station ;) they give more local news!!!


In Philly no one has ever heard of Milford - and very few have probably heard of Dover!!!

[Hurricane Andrew]

I know, but the only problem is that we switched from Comcast to Dish Network about 3 years ago, and the only "local" package available is the Philly set. I used to watch 16 and 47 when we did have cable. Now, I sometimes watch 16 during football season and March Madness with the help of an old pair of rabbit ears. I might have to dig them out tonight...

[antivenom]

Is Frank Perdue still the chicken man over there???

[Gabz]

That's my only fear of switching from cable to dish - that I will wind up getting the "local" from the other side of the bay.

I'll post anything I hear to this thread.......

[antivenom]

I grew up in Cambridge Maryland and have a brother in Mardela Springs...right outside of Salisbury...you are in my old stomping grounds....

[Gabz]

He's not the only one - but one of the biggest!!!

Chicken is big business here.

[steve86]

I'm just glad it's a strain that doesn't impact humans

Interesting how that was determined with such rapidity. All flu strains, H7 and others, mutate with great speed and in surprising directions. I believe it is accurate to say that testing never reveals the exact same strain twice.

What I would like to know is if this strain can infect pigs (truthfully, from a non-governmental expert). If so, it means that pigs might be able to harbor both the avian strain and a human strain, generating a new mutant that could infect humans with properties of each. There is the same concern in Asia. I don't know whether any H7 strains have a human counterpart.

[antivenom]

Every farmer I knew in Maryland had a few chicken houses...chickens and feed courtesy of Frank Perdue...(secret ingredient in the feed was marigold petals to make the chicken flesh golden yellow) and ohhh the joy of driving through Salisbury on the way to Ocean City to watch the escapee chickens running all over the place...yes I know about the poultry bidness over on the DelMarVa penisula...

[Gabz]

I know right where you're talking about!

[JustAnAmerican]

"On the local (well, if you call Philly local) news over the weekend, they had some ariel pics of guys in hazmat suits coming out of some chicken houses".

As anyone who has ever been in a chicken house before can attest to, those Hazmat suits would also come in handy to overcome the Furfum-De-Funk.

[Hurricane Andrew]

Actually, I believe that the funk to which you refer, AKA chicken $@!^, is the only non-radiouactive substance known to be able to penetrate a standard issue hazmat suit.

[Hurricane Andrew]

My understanding is that this strain has been around for years and is well known in the poultry industry. That is the reason that they were able to make such a quick determination, they knew exactly what they were looking for.

[Gabz]

I guess you do know about the industry!!!

I remember back in the early 80s when I was in radio a Perdue truck overturned at the intersection of 13 and 113 in Dover - talk about making big news. They were chasing chickens around the capitol for hours!!!!

Where I live now in Accomac County, my nearest neighbors are 6 of those 20,000 per chicken houses!!!

[Gabz]

Here's the press release from this afternoon's press conference:

Avian Influenza Update--February 10, 2004
Statement from Michael T. Scuse, Secretary of Agriculture:

Despite our aggressive measures to contain the outbreak of Avian Influenza in Delaware, this morning officials from the University of Delaware Lasher Laboratory notified me that a second poultry farm has tested positive for avian influenza. We are very fortunate to have a lab of this caliber in Delaware. They have been able to supply us with results in a very timely manner which enables us to react quickly to the situation. The H7-type of avian influenza, believed to be the same strain first reported last Friday, was found in a commercial flock of roaster chickens in northern Sussex County.

I am as surprised as many of you are by this recent turn of events because the new outbreak is located more than 5 miles from the first point of infection. The tests results I received yesterday showed that all 20 farms within a two-mile radius of the original infected farm were negative for avian influenza. At this time we can not explain how the virus appeared so far outside our original containment zone.

The new avian influenza infection was discovered after a flock supervisor took sickly chickens to the Lasher Lab for a determination of illness. At 1:30 this afternoon, officials began depopulating the 73,800 birds in the three chicken houses on the newly infected farm. As with the previous incidence, the birds will be composted in their chicken houses.

Today we DID learn that the EXACT strain of virus from the first site was H7N2. According to the Delaware Division of Public Health, there is no history of risk to humans with this particular strain. Nor does this strain in any way affect the safety of eating Delmarva Poultry.

I would like to once again describe the aggressive containment procedures we are implementing across the Delmarva Peninsula to eradicate this incidence of avian influenza.

There are more than 75 farms within 6 miles of the infected farms, all of which are under quarantine until further notice. Birds over 21 days of age on these farms will be tested every 10 days for evidence of the virus.

The Delmarva Emergency Poultry Disease Task Force believes that the most likely ways to transmit the virus is firstly, through people carrying it on their shoes…secondly by people and machinery entering and leaving the farm during routine operations, and thirdly through the air. Therefore, the task force has decided to enforce the following precautionary measures.

--MORE--
Delaware Dept. of Agriculture
Avian Influenza Update 2/10/04
page 2



There will be no spreading of poultry manure in areas north of Route 50. Feed delivery trucks will only deliver to one farm per trip, and will undergo rigorous cleaning before and after leaving each farm. As secretary of agriculture I will call the commercial fertilizing companies and enlist their cooperation. All of the cages and equipment used to transport chickens will also be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected on a routine basis.

Within 72 hours of shipping birds to market, there will be a pre-slaughter testing on farms within 6 miles of the infected farms.

DDA is asking anyone with small numbers of backyard chickens or other poultry to report any disease or suspicions of disease immediately to the Department at (302) 698-4566.

Effective immediately, DDA is canceling all scheduled farmer- and grower-related meetings in order to prevent spread of the disease and encourages all those in the industry to do the same.

Effective immediately, DDA is asking that all sales or auctions of farm equipment be cancelled in order to prevent spread of the disease. An example of this cooperation is that Sam Walter’s annual farm machinery consignment sale in Canterbury has been postponed.

Effective immediately, DDA is banning all sales of live poultry in Delaware.

I urge all of our poultry producers on Delmarva to enforce the strictest of biosecurity procedures on their properties.

I also would like to seek the cooperation of utility workers when they visit farms for telephone, natural gas, or electric needs.

[steve86]

I still wonder if the avian strain and a human strain could combine in a pig. It's not really an Outer Limits thing -- happens all the time with innocuous viruses. If anyone is unlucky enough to live between a poultry operation and a hog farm I would think about taking a vacation upwind.