Canada - Bird flu H5N2 confirmed by poultry association in wild Fraser Valley duck

[Gert van der Hoek]

A case of the Avian Flu virus has been confirmed in the Fraser Valley, after a duck was shot by a hunter earlier this week or on the weekend.

Ray Nickels from the BC Poultry Association confirmed the presence of the H5N2 virus, but says there’s little to fear.

“There’s no human risk here at all, it has to do with our industry concerns and about our bird health, but it is very dangerous for poultry flocks.”

Nickels says birds like ducks are carriers of the avian flu.
But he says strict regulations should protect commercial poultry.

“I think it’s fairly unlikely, given the strategies we have in place and that it is a wild duck, it’s not something that would be comingling with our poultry flocks.”

No word yet from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

thanks to Mike Coston

[Gert van der Hoek]

Wild duck killed in Fraser Valley had avian flu

VANCOUVER SUN NOVEMBER 27, 2015

METRO VANCOUVER - A wild duck killed by a hunter in the Fraser Valley has tested positive for avian flu.

The strain puts commercial poultry in the region at risk, according to Ray Nickel of the BC Poultry Association, but farmers had already stepped up biosecurity measures before the infected duck was discovered.

The extra precautions began in mid-November as a response to last year’s outbreak of H5N2, which began in early December and resulted in the deaths of 245,600 birds.

“There are some additional things that we do, such as more restrictions on vehicles coming in and out of the property, taking extra precautions when we’re going in and out of our barns to make sure we’re not tracking anything inside the flocks,” Nickel said.

He added that the strain detected in the wild duck is different from the one that infected poultry in 2014.