Posted on 01/07/2015 11:45:53 AM PST by steve86
(They have slightly changed the title in the online edition to: "Avian flu found in second Benton County backyard flock")
Veterinarians covered in white protective gear herded hundreds of chickens, ducks and other birds into blue trash-can sized barrels Tuesday in rural Richland.
The vets picked up most of the birds and carefully placed them into the carbon dioxide-filled cans to kill them.
State and federal employees had to use nets to capture some of the poultry and waterfowl, which had been exposed to a highly contagious strain of avian influenza. It’s deadly to birds, but humans can’t catch it.
So far, more than 700 Benton County poultry and waterfowl in the past two weeks have died from avian flu or were euthanized to halt the spread of the disease.
Officials found the contagious strain in the Richland flock this week, and they killed the surviving birds Tuesday morning. Veterinarians on Monday euthanized birds from a Benton City flock diagnosed with the disease last week.
The Richland flock had been in direct contact with the Benton City flock, said Hector Castro, the state Department of Agriculture’s communications manager.
This is the first time avian flu has been found in a backyard flock in Washington. No one has found it in any commercial flocks.
The 500 birds in the mixed Richland flock included chickens, turkeys, ducks and guinea fowl. Some of the birds had lost motor control, leaving them helplessly flapping around. Poultry that catch the disease usually die within three days.
“They are already showing significant signs of the illness here,” Castro said early Tuesday.
The veterinarians connected the CO2 tanks to the barrels used to kill the birds. The gas knocked the birds out in seconds, and they died quickly, Castro said.
“They are being as careful with the birds as they can,” he said.
Workers wore Tyvek protective suits while they were in contact with the infected birds to prevent the spread of disease, Castro said.
Officials disposed of the suits, which covered the workers head to toe, after they finished the euthanizations, he said. Anything that came in contact with the birds was decontaminated. The birds’ carcasses were incinerated.
The owner of the Richland flock agreed to have the birds euthanized even though the test results to confirm the avian flu diagnosis weren’t back yet, Castro said.
About 100 ducks from the Richland flock had been mingled with the Benton City flock and were moved back to Richland when the Benton City owners realized there were some health issues with their birds, he said.
The Benton City flock of 200 chickens, turkeys and waterfowl used a pond also visited by migratory wild birds. Wild birds have been known to spread the disease to domestic birds. The Benton City owners contacted the state Department of Agriculture after more than 50 became sick and died.
The Benton City owners stopped moving any birds to other flocks once they realized the health problems were serious, Castro said. They told officials about the Richland ducks that visited their property. State Department of Agriculture officials then contacted the owners of the second flock.
The Richland and Benton City owners cooperated with state and federal officials. They will receive some compensation from USDA, Castro said, but it will cover only the euthanized birds, not those killed by the disease.
Tests by the USDA identified the strain of influenza caught by the Benton City birds as H5N2, Castro said — the same one found in a wild pintail duck in Whatcom County and in outbreaks in Canada.
The virus has not been found in commercial poultry in the U.S. The industry has a robust avian influenza testing program. Inspectors perform weekly testing and health inspections at live bird markets in the state.
Officials are trying to prevent the spread of the disease to other Tri-City area backyard poultry flocks. Federal and state workers will disinfect both properties and check to make sure they killed all of the exposed birds, Castro said.
A small building at the Benton City location might be removed. If so, the owners would be compensated for that as well.
USDA officials will contact property owners within about seven miles of both sites to check to see if any other domestic birds have been infected, Castro said. Those birds would be tested with owner permission. From poultry, a swab is taken from the inside of its beak. With waterfowl, feces are tested.
Another backyard flock that lives near the Benton City flock is being tested even though the birds appear healthy, Castro said. The samples have been sent to a lab to check for avian flu, but it could be a couple of days for the results to be available.
Read more here: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2015/01/06/3345156_avian-flu-found-in-second-benton.html?sp=/99/177/&rh=1#storylink=cpy
Actually, I did have Washington State in the keywords.
topics, I mean.
How many times have we heard that before, huh? Guess that's why the bird collecting crew is dressed in their swim trunks... oh, wait, never mind.
How does this affect chickens sold in grocery stores?
I agree!
Your comments about reassortment are accurate, as far as they go.
Two influenza A viruses can easily co-infect the same host. Since they each have 8 gene cassettes on separate pieces of RNA, those pieces of RNA tend to get mixed up, or reassort. As long as the new virus has one of each gene cassette, it is potentially infective.
Not every reassorted virus is equally pathogenic or infective; some of them are duds. But others can be more deadly than either parent.
Influenza virus RNA also mutates, which can cause an avian influenza virus to slightly change from preferring to attach to bird cells to preferring to attach to human cells. The controversial “gain of function” experiments (Kawaoka and Fouchier) were looking at exactly which mutations cause that shift.
Many emerging influenza viruses are a result of both processes, reassortment and mutation. Swine are an ideal host for influenza, because bird and mammal adapted viruses can both attach within the pig upper respiratory tract, where they can reassort and mutate to become more infective to humans.
Influenza is a particularly nasty virus. Even a mild flu can kill. I just read about a healthy teenage girl who died in days from influenza. She had not been vaccinated.
Oh, and there is a completely new influenza in livestock, influenza D. So far, it has only infected pigs and cattle.
Quarantine Zones for Avian Flu in Benton & Franklin Counties
OLYMPIA, WA - The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) Wednesday adopted an emergency rule to establish a quarantine zone for avian influenza that includes parts of Benton and Franklin counties.
The area covers about 20 miles around two locations where avian influenza has been identified in flocks of mixed poultry and other birds.
The quarantine area will be in force for at least 240 days and restricts the movement of eggs, poultry or poultry products out of the identified zone.
Exemptions will be made for operations that obtain special permits and meet specific criteria.
On Jan. 2, WSDA activated a multi-agency response plan following the confirmation of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza in domestic birds in a Benton County flock.
Later, a second infected flock was identified in the area.
Work was completed Jan. 6 at both locations to control the spread of the virus.
The joint team of WSDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials will now work to clean and disinfect the two sites.
USDA plans to increase the amount of testing of poultry and other domestic birds within an area identified as 10 kilometers around the two flocks.
WSDA has not identified any new cases of avian influenza.
The virus has not been found in commercial poultry anywhere in Washington or the United States.
WSDA is encouraging bird owners to protect their domestic birds from contact with wild waterfowl and remain vigilant in their biosecurity measures.
There is no immediate public health concern due to the avian influenza virus detected.
Avian influenza does not affect poultry meat or egg products, which remain safe to eat. As always, both wild and domestic poultry should be properly cooked.
Re: “Avian Flu”
This is bad news.
On my daily run, I cross paths with two different flocks of Canadian geese.
They snack on the large areas of green grass that border the sidewalks around the Mercer Slough.
At least once or twice a week, especially in the winter, I have to play a hundred yards of sidewalk hopscotch around all the goose poop.
I frequently wonder what microbes might be airborne in those areas and what sort of infectious diseases I might be tracking back into my house.
The almost 100% human death rate in Asia from hybrid avian flu is always on my mind when I have to run through geese on the sidewalk. Those things are vicious. One of these days I know I’m going to get bit or scratched by one of those honkers.
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