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Officials reveal bird flu on Ky. poultry farm

By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Agriculture officials recently announced the discovery of avian influenza (AI) on a poultry farm in the western part of the state. The exact location was not disclosed other than the fact that it is in Edmonson County.

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) released information on April 3 that reported “a finding of suspected non-pathogenic or low-pathogenic avian influenza in a single broiler/breeder poultry farm.”

The facility which produces hatching eggs for Perdue Farms Inc. was quarantined by State Veterinarian Robert C. Stout. The 20,000 chickens, located in two houses were put down on April 4.

“The state and federal government and Perdue are acting aggressively to contain and eliminate the disease,” Stout said. “There is no evidence that any infected poultry are in the human food supply as a result of this infection. We will do what is necessary to minimize the disruption to overseas trade.”

This particular strain of AI is H7N9 not the highly pathogenic H5N1 Asian strain that has created concern in Asia and other parts of the world. The KDA reported that “testing by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, resulted in a presumptive positive finding for the H7 strain. Subsequent testing by NVSL and the Breathitt Veterinary Center in Hopkinsville confirmed the finding.”

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the H5N1 Asian strain has not been found in this country.
The discovery came as a drop in egg production was detected by Perdue initiating the test which found the presence of the antibodies for AI.

Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said, “I have been in constant contact with state, federal and industry officials since this came to light. The people of Kentucky and our trading partners should rest assured that we are doing everything possible to address the situation.”

In the wake of the discovery at least four countries have banned poultry from Kentucky including Japan, Russia, Ecuador and Columbia.

KDA Spokesman Bill Clary said there is certainly no need for panic and pointing out this strain causes a very, very low rate of mortality in the chickens and is more of a problem from an economic standpoint than a health issue.

“The major ramifications in this are economic and not in terms of health. Because of the trade agreements the U.S. has with various countries, it shuts off exports from Kentucky,” he said. “Once the USDA certifies that the disease event has ended, and as soon as we can show there is no evidence that the disease is continuing, generally speaking that would be the end of the trade restrictions.”

Clary added that there is no sign of or any evidence what so ever that it has spread beyond the farm where it was originally reported.
Julie DeYoung, vice president of corporate communications with Perdue Farms said tests conducted within a six-mile radius of the affected farm have been completed and all results were negative.
“We do have farms in that area that are operating on a higher level of biosecurity for the time being,” she said. “We’ll continue to work with the KDA and state veterinarian to follow the Kentucky AI Response and Containment plan.”

DeYoung added that even though any case of AI is of the utmost importance to them, she felt like the incident would not create a huge economical impact.

A statement from the company noted “this flock is not a meat bird flock but produces hatching eggs. None of the affected birds ever left the farm where the virus was found. Low pathogenic avian influenza is not transmitted via eggs. There has been no impact on the safety of Perdue products. Our system of surveillance and testing 100 percent of our flocks for avian influenza is working as intended to prevent infected birds from ever leaving the farm”   
The KDA is also conducting surveillance on backyard flocks within a two-mile radius of the farm.

Dr. Kraig E. Humbaugh of the Kentucky Department for Public Health said in a press release from the KDA, that there is no evidence that the disease has been transmitted from birds to humans in this outbreak and there never has been documented human-to-human transmission of low-pathogenic avian influenza in the U.S.

He also advised that eggs and poultry products for human consumption always should be cooked to recommended temperatures.

4/15/2009