Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
Brought by Wild Neighbors, Deadly Bird Flu Attacks Turkey Flocks
By STEPHANIE STROMAPRIL 9, 2015
...
The virus most likely infiltrated the United States from Canada, where outbreaks occurred in December in British Columbia. The first cases of what is called ?highly pathogenic avian influenza? were identified in the United States a month later, in wild birds and backyard flocks in Washington State, Oregon and Idaho.
...
?As birds migrate north in the summer months and south in the winter, they mix with one another and pick up the virus and spread it when they begin migrating again,? said Dr. John Clifford, chief veterinary officer at the federal Agriculture Department.
...
The U.S.D.A. says that the deadly H5 part of the virus is mingling with North American strains, according to the department, creating new, ?mixed race? viruses.
Dr. Clifford said that made it more likely that birds carrying the virus would end up traveling the Atlantic flyway, along which it has not yet appeared. That could endanger flocks in North Carolina, the state producing the second-most turkeys (though measured by value, it ranks first). ?Next fall and winter, when the birds start moving down, if the virus remains as virulent, then we?ll potentially see it in all four flyways,? Dr. Clifford said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/10/b...-a-deadly-flu-attacks-turkey-flocks.html?_r=0
By STEPHANIE STROMAPRIL 9, 2015
...
The virus most likely infiltrated the United States from Canada, where outbreaks occurred in December in British Columbia. The first cases of what is called ?highly pathogenic avian influenza? were identified in the United States a month later, in wild birds and backyard flocks in Washington State, Oregon and Idaho.
...
?As birds migrate north in the summer months and south in the winter, they mix with one another and pick up the virus and spread it when they begin migrating again,? said Dr. John Clifford, chief veterinary officer at the federal Agriculture Department.
...
The U.S.D.A. says that the deadly H5 part of the virus is mingling with North American strains, according to the department, creating new, ?mixed race? viruses.
Dr. Clifford said that made it more likely that birds carrying the virus would end up traveling the Atlantic flyway, along which it has not yet appeared. That could endanger flocks in North Carolina, the state producing the second-most turkeys (though measured by value, it ranks first). ?Next fall and winter, when the birds start moving down, if the virus remains as virulent, then we?ll potentially see it in all four flyways,? Dr. Clifford said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/10/b...-a-deadly-flu-attacks-turkey-flocks.html?_r=0
