H7N3(HPAI) reported in commercial turkey flock in South Carolina

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.wwaytv3.com/2020/04/10/b...outh-carolina/


Bird flu reported in commercial turkey flock in South Carolina
By WWAY News -
April 10, 2020 9:18 AM

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, SC (WPDE) — Bird flu was reported in a commercial turkey flock in Chesterfield County on Thursday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

The strain is called H7N3 avian influenza (HPAI), which is considered highly pathogenic, officials said..

[Treyfish]

Industry scrambles to stop fatal bird flu in South Carolina


By ASSOCIATED PRESS
UPDATED: 15:52 EDT, 10 April 2020
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - An infectious and fatal strain of bird flu has been confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in South Carolina, the first case of the more serious strain of the disease in the United States since 2017 and a worrisome development for an industry that was devastated by previous outbreaks.

The high pathogenic case was found at an operation in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, marking the first case of the more dangerous strain since one found in a Tennessee chicken flock in 2017. In 2015, an estimated 50 million poultry had to be killed at operations mainly in the Upper Midwest after infections spread throughout the region.

"Yes, it?s concerning when we see cases, but we are prepared to respond very quickly and that was done in this case," said Lyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

The USDA has been working in recent months with scientists and farmers in North Carolina and South Carolina, where a low pathogenic - or less severe - strain of bird flu had been detected.

Low pathogenic bird flu causes few clinical signs in infected birds. However, two strains of low pathogenic bird flu - the H5 and H7 strains - can mutate into highly pathogenic forms, which are frequently fatal to birds and easily transmissible between susceptible species.

Low pathogenic cases were already in an area near the South Carolina and North Carolina state line and USDA was closely monitoring and testing. The case in Chesterfield County, South Carolina was expected to be another low pathogenic case, but it came back from the laboratory high pathogenic which means the less severe virus mutated into the more severe version, Cole said..... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap...-Carolina.html