Re: LPAI H5N2 in W. Virginia
Restrictions aimed at stopping bird flu strain
By Mona Ridder
CUMBERLAND TIMES-NEWS (CUMBERLAND, Md.)
MOOREFIELD, W.Va. — The poultry industry in the Potomac Highlands counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Grant, Hampshire and Mineral will be holding its breath for the next 30 days as restrictions go into effect intended to prevent the spread of a strain of avian influenza found in a Pendleton County turkey flock.
Dave Workman, Hardy County West Virginia University extension agent, reported the most recent information available concerning the outbreak at a Sugar Grove farm of a low pathogen strain of avian flu Saturday.
He said that the strain, identified as H5N2, is not the strain that has spread through birds in Asia, Europe and Africa but rather a strain that causes only minor sickness or no noticeable symptoms. He said the birds in Pendleton County exhibited no illness and it was only routine pre-harvest testing that revealed the pathogen.
“It is not known to cause human health risks but is one of two biotypes known to mutate into the higher pathogen,” Workman told Hardy County commissioners Roger Champ, Stanley Moyer and J.R. Keplinger.
In response to the discovery, state Agriculture Commissioner Gus Douglass has ordered a halt to any movement of poultry litter in the five counties.
“This action is part of our avian influenza response protocol,” said Douglass in the order. “Poultry producers must not do any house clean-outs, crust-outs or land applications within the six-mile zone of the infected farm.”
In addition, Workman said that farms outside of the six-mile zone are allowed to remove caked litter and store it on the farm but cannot spread it until further notice. “It will be at least 30 days,” he said, adding that it comes at a bad time for farmers who use the composted litter to fertilize their fields for crops.
“Crops need to be in the ground now and they can’t use the litter,” he said, noting that even composted litter that has been piled in the fields for spreading will have to be covered and cannot be used.
And while the farm has not been identified, Workman said they know where it is and what lies within two and six miles of the farm.
The 25,000 birds from the infected farm have been “depopulated” using a foam and will be composted inside the poultry house or litter shed, Workman said, adding that Hardy County firefighters from Capon Valley have been helping with the process and the county has provided other resources as well.
“It represents a loss of more than 1 million pounds of meat,” he said.
He went on to say that while the commissioner’s order halts the movement of poultry litter, live birds will continue to move from the farms to the processing plants. Workman said the incident affects the industry significantly in both Virginia and West Virginia.
Moyer noted that farmers often sell or give away litter.
Workman said that users of those poultry products will be equally affected.
Keplinger noted just how significantly by pointing out that Hardy County is the 37th largest poultry producing county in the nation and the region is the center of the poultry industry in the state.
Workman said that an incident command center has been established at the Agriculture Center in Moorefield and testing is continuing on flocks in all five counties at the Agriculture Laboratory in the Moorefield Industrial Park.
He said that disinfecting and monitoring of equipment and vehicles used in transport will be a priority.
“This has been planned for and the response is calculated,” he said.
As for the cost of the recovery from an outbreak of avian flu, Workman pointed out that it is the integrator that owns the flock while the farmer is paid as a manager by the integrator company.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced in September it would, under certain conditions, reimburse commercial poultry farms for the cost of stopping low pathogenic H5 and H7 avian influenza outbreaks.
Under the new rule, the USDA promised to provide “100 percent indemnity for specified costs” involved in eradicating the viruses at commercial poultry operations participating in the National Poultry Improvement Program.
Moyer said, however, that the reimbursements don’t cover a lot of costs associated with dealing with the outbreak and he would be concerned about a fledgling company dealing with such a situation.
When asked how the virus got to the farm in Pendleton County, Workman said there are a whole host of possibilities, including the fact that
the area lies within the fly line of migrating birds that might carry the virus.
“That’s one possibility, but certainly not the only one,” he said.
Workman said that a poultry litter hotline is available at (304) 538-7581.
http://www.mineralwellsindex.com/statenews/cnhinsall_story_094092101.html
Mona Ridder writes for the Cumberland (Md.) Times-News.
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