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Avian influenza outbreak harms poultry in Iowa

 

 

By DOUG SCHMITZ

Iowa Correspondent

 

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey on April 20 ordered that 3.8 million chickens from a northwestern Iowa commercial (5.3 million capacity) poultry farm confirmed infected with the H5N2 avian influenza, to be destroyed to control the spread of the highly pathogenic disease.

This was the second of three confirmed outbreaks to hit the state in less than two weeks. "All these chickens will be killed to prevent the disease from getting to other birds," Northey told Nextstar Broadcasting on April 21.

According to the USDA, the second strike of H5N2 avian influenza in Iowa is the nation’s largest confirmed case of the deadly bird disease to date since December, when the virus was found in the Pacific, Central and Mississippi flyways.

A third H5N2 case in Iowa had been confirmed April 23 on a commercial farm with 34,000 turkeys in Sac County, which is adjacent to the first infected Buena Vista County farm. State officials have already quarantined the facility and the infected birds on the property will be destroyed, WHO-TV in Des Moines reported.

As the top egg-producing state, Iowa has approximately 60 million laying hens producing about 16.5 billion eggs in 2014 – or one out of every five eggs laid in the United States, according to the Iowa Egg Council.

Nationally, nearly 7.4 million chickens, turkeys and backyard poultry have been infected with the bird flu, the Des Moines Register reported.

The disease – caused by an influenza virus that can infect poultry, such as chickens, turkeys, domestic ducks and geese – is spread through the droppings of waterfowl, more specifically by migratory birds such as ducks, geese and shorebirds. In an April 22 teleconference with reporters, USDA Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford said it has also been found in some backyard and commercial poultry flocks.

"The risk to humans is low; our food supply is safe," he said. "We know how to address disease when we find it."

Angela Shaw, Iowa State University assistant professor in food science and human nutrition and extension food safety specialist, said humans can be infected with the virus, but "most cases involve very close direct contact with sick birds."

So far, this avian flu has struck 15 other states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker declared a state of emergency in response to a request from the state veterinarian, authorizing the Wisconsin National Guard to assist in containing the outbreak.

On April 14, the H5N2 virus was first detected in Iowa in a flock of 27,000 turkeys on an Osceola commercial farm in Buena Vista County, located within the Mississippi Flyway where this specific strain of avian influenza had previously been identified.

Sunrise: Biosecurity paramount

 

Located in Harris, in Osceola County, the state’s second affected business and largest egg-laying chicken farm, Sunrise Farms, Inc., is under a 6-mile radius quarantine by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) until state and federal officials can determine all infected birds have been culled and disposed. Osceola County borders Nobles County, Minn., which had a turkey farm outbreak earlier this month.

"We will check to make sure it’s not spreading outside that zone," Northey said, adding the disease was likely carried by wild birds migrating to Minnesota, which has already had nearly 50 reported cases of H5N2 infection.

IDALS said increased deaths in Sunrise Farm’s chicken flock prompted authorities to send samples to the South Dakota State University veterinary diagnostic laboratory for preliminary testing. In addition, samples of the infected flocks were sent to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service National Veterinary Services Laboratories at ISU in Ames, the nation’s only internationally-recognized avian flu reference laboratory, which confirmed the results. Northey said the diseased birds from Sunrise Farm’s flock would not enter the food system. "(Sunrise Farms) is one of the bigger farms in the state," he told USA Today. "But when there’s an outbreak like this, you have to make sure the disease doesn’t leave."

An affiliate of Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sonstegard Foods Co., Sunrise Farms houses 3.8 million layer hens and employs approximately 220 workers at the Osceola County facility. "We went to great lengths to prevent our birds from contracting (avian influenza), but despite (our) best efforts, we now confirm many of our birds are testing positive for AI," an April 21 Sonstegard Foods statement read.

"In accordance with our policy, we are working with the USDA, state officials and the industry to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent the further spread of the disease."

Moreover, Sunrise Farms officials said the company maintains strict biosecurity "covering all aspects of live production, and our supervisors and management monitor the health of every flock. As part of our procedures, we routinely test flocks as soon as we suspect anything affecting the health of the birds," the statement continued. "Our personnel have been on alert to watch for symptoms of avian influenza in our birds, in large part because of the number of recent occurrences in the region."

 

4/29/2015