Test results now due back Tuesday or Wednesday...
Test results now due back Tuesday or Wednesday...
Second farm quarantined
Official says no sign of additional bird flu in P.E.I. poultry.
June 19, 2006
Photo caption: A member of the Oliver family of Huntley, who did not want to be identified, disinfects his truck Sunday. Twenty-nine domestic fowl on the family farm had to be destroyed after four died and one tested positive for an H5 avian flu virus, but he also said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has led him to believe it doesn?t believe it is the virulent H5N1 strain, but results of tests will not be known until later in the week. (GUARDIAN PHOTO BY BRIAN MCINNIS)
By Caitlin McIntyre and The Canadian Press
The Guardian
A second Prince Edward Island farm has been placed under a quarantine order as a precautionary measure, as authorities continue their investigation of an H5 avian flu virus discovered in a domestic goose last week.
The quarantine was initiated when investigators learned there was high traffic of people and possibly poultry between the Oliver family farm in Huntley, on the outskirts of Alberton, where the virus was found, and another farm in O?Leary, an official with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said.
Dr. Jim Clark, the CFIA?s director of animal health, said no birds from the second farm have shown any signs of illness, and authorities haven?t ordered their destruction, at least for now.
Confirmatory test results on whether the virus was indeed an H5, as well as the strain and virulence of the virus (high pathogenicity or low pathogenicity), are expected Tuesday or Wednesday, he said. Samples of the domestic goose that died last week were sent to the CFIA?s National Centre for Foreign Animal Diseases in Winnipeg, where the origin of the virus ? whether it is of a North American lineage or Asian ? will also de determined.
The second quarantine has provided further evidence the virus is the less dangerous, low pathogenic type, Clark said.
?The fact that there are no birds ill there ? if the virus has moved ? that again would be additional evidence that what we?re dealing with here is a low pathogenicity virus,? he said. ?There?s nothing that?s obvious to us that would suggest it?s anything except a low pathogenicity virus.?
The CFIA confirmed Friday the goose tested positive for the H5 virus. The goose was part of a small, free-range flock of chickens, geese and ducks. Four of the 11 geese were found dead Monday, but none of the other birds in the flock were ill. All of the birds were destroyed as a precaution.
As Chief Health Officer Dr. Lamont Sweet awaits test results, he is cautiously hopeful, knowing the virus does not seem to have come in contact with humans.
Last week, Sweet began investigations with those in contact with the goose, searching for flu-like symptoms or eye infections.
?We don?t have any symptoms of anyone who has been in close contact, so we haven?t had anyone ill who needs to be tested at this stage,? he said Sunday. ?The three close contacts have been offered the anti-viral medication, but we don?t have any indication that any human has anything associated with the virus.?
This increases the hope that the goose isn?t the highly pathogenic Asian H5N1, which has killed hundreds of millions of poultry, and more than 100 people. Moreover, the fact that none of the chickens in the flock fell ill may serve as further evidence, Clark said.
Sweet said while this is encouraging, nothing will be known for certain until the test results return.
The three individuals ?may not have gotten in direct contact with the virus enough to have caught it, so we just can?t say anything for sure at this stage,? he said.
All of the birds in the flock at the Oliver family farm were destroyed, and a member of the Oliver family said Sunday officials had to destroy 29 fowl that they used for personal consumption.
The family member said officials have also led them to believe the virus isn?t the deadly H5N1 strain.
Since the discovery of the virus, Sweet said he has been working closely with the Public Health Agency of Canada, participating in frequent teleconferences with them.
Furthermore, Public Health have sent three epidemiologists to the Island to help with the investigation.
And if the virus is here, there?s still no indication how long it has been on P.E.I., Sweet said.
?It may have been here for a while and not have been tested,? he said. ?It may just be that there?s an increased amount of testing and now suddenly it?s found and therefore it may have been here without causing problems for a long while.?
Without a doubt, the discovery of the virus has come as a bit of a shock.
?We had no indication it was in our area at all, and then suddenly for something like this to hit us here, it?s surprising,? Sweet said.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=2968&sc=1
