Strain from initial case different than ones which caused the major HPAI outbreak in 2015
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A total of ten cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been confirmed in turkey flocks in Indiana. On Saturday, nine more commercial turkey farms in Dubois County tested positive for HPAI -- besides the initial case confirmed Friday, Jan. 15. Ten commercial turkey operations are now dealing with the bird flu. All infected flocks are located in Dubois County. State health officials say further testing is underway to determine the virus type -- the initial case was determined to be H7N8 HPAI.
All of the new infections are located within a control area set up around the first farm, a statement said. The control area, which is under quarantine, has been expanded to four other Indiana counties, the State Board of Animal Health said. Denise Derrer, spokeswoman for the Indiana board, said officials are still trying to determine how many birds are affected on the nine farms covered by the announcement Saturday. Officials had begun euthanizing birds at most of the new sites, the board said. All 60,000 turkeys on the first farm have been euthanized. The initial case of H7N8 HPAI was found in a commercial turkey flock in Dubois County, Indiana. This is a different strain of HPAI than the strains that caused the 2015 outbreak, according to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). There are no known cases of H7N8 infections in humans. According to a USDA agricultural census from 2012, Dubois County was home to some 1.4 million turkeys and was the leading county in Indiana for poultry production. “It is a significant virus that does need an immediate response in order to contain it and prevent its spread to other facilities,” said Dr. T. J. Myers, associate deputy administrator in USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), during a conference call. Preliminary tests indicate the H7N8 strain found in Indiana was of North American origin, according to Myers. USDA will conduct diagnostics to seek a cause for the mutation of the virus, he said. The company behind the commercial turkey farm in southern Indiana where bird flu was found said it is working closely with state and federal officials. Huntingburg-based Farbest Farms said in a news release Friday that its surveillance protocol for bird flu quickly detected the H7N8 strain. Farbest Foods Inc. is headquartered in nearby Jasper, Indiana. The farm in Indiana has 60,000 turkeys housed in 10 barns on the site but the virus has only been found in one barn. The farmer first noticed reduced water consumption by the birds and then found dead birds in the barn, according to Denise Derrer with Indiana’s Board of Animal Health – Derrer said Saturday that all 60,000 turkeys on the farm had been euthanized. “These viruses are always mutating and changing,” Derrer said of the farm identified as Farbest Foods by the Dubois County Herald on Friday. “We don’t believe any virus has come off the farm. We want to be safe.” “This finding of highly pathogenic H7N8 is unique to Indiana and the nation,” state veterinarian Bret D. Marsh, said in a Indiana Joint Information Center press release. “This strain is unrelated to those identified in the upper Midwest in 2015, nor is it related to the HPAI case identified in a northeastern Indiana backyard poultry flock that was affected last May.” Derrer said all movements of birds, products and materials like poultry litter and egg shells within the approximately 6 mile containment area can’t be done unless the farm making the movement has tested negative for the virus and a permit has been issued by the Board of Animal Health. Testing began as early as Thursday afternoon. “We started notifying commercial operations then,” she says. “Those tests are ongoing through Purdue and we’re getting negative test results even as we speak. We’ve not found any virus outside the farm where the initial infection was found.” Samples from the turkey flock, which experienced increased mortality, were tested at the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Purdue University, which is a part of USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network, and confirmed by USDA Friday morning. Facts and figures. Indiana’s poultry industry ranks fourth nationally in turkey production, first in duck production and third in eggs. It also is a significant producer of broiler chickens. Avian influenza doesn’t present a food safety risk. All shipments of poultry and eggs are tested to ensure the absence of avian influenza before moving into the food supply. The Centers for Disease Control considers the risk of illness to humans to be very low. As for potential market impacts other than the export market, analysts said that by itself, the outbreak should not have any impact on the egg market, and little to no effect on broiler supply/demand. The industry is in much better position this year to control disease spread vs last year. APHIS is working closely with the Indiana State Board of Animal Health on a joint incident response. State officials quarantined the affected premises and depopulation of birds on the premises has already begun. Depopulation prevents the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock will not enter the food system. Workers from multiple state agencies descended Friday on the two-employee farm along East Dubois Road Northwest, in Dubois, The Herald reported. Squads of emergency responders included employees of the State Board of Animal Health, Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the Indiana State Poultry Association and the Indiana Department of Corrections, which has placed a group of prison inmates on work release from a nearby correctional facility, Derrer said. The use of prison labor, she said, was approved by Indiana officials in 2015 as part of an emergency response strategy that requires immediate manpower in rural areas where labor is scarce, she said. “We do have a number of low-level offenders coming in for help,” Derrer said. The turkeys will be euthanized by a modified version of a “giant fire extinguisher,” she said, adding that equipment is already owned by the poultry farmer, with extra units being brought in by the USDA. “They will go in and foam it up to a level above the birds’ heads and the birds can’t breathe.” To further contain the virus, turkey carcasses will be left to compost in piles inside the barns, a process sped up by catalytic agents, she added. Early testing at neighboring poultry farms has produced no additional cases of infection, she added. “The good news is this producer took very quick action and started working on depopulation efforts last night,” Derrer said. “We are on high alert.” As part of existing avian influenza response plans, Federal and State partners are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in the nearby area. The rapid testing and response in this incident is the result of months of planning with local, state, federal and industry partners to ensure the most efficient and effective coordination. Since the previous HPAI detections in 2015, APHIS and its state and industry partners have learned valuable lessons to help implement stronger preparedness and response capabilities. Federal and state officials have not been able to pinpoint the exact cause of last year’s outbreaks. Dr. Myers said trucking and other traffic between facilities may have helped the virus jump from farm to farm, and that wild birds had likely played a role in introducing the flu to commercial flocks. He also said the USDA believed that the virus could travel on its own in the air “very, very short distances.” In July, the federal agency began a yearlong program of testing wild birds, Dr. Myers said, and had found some of the roughly 25,000 examined so far were carrying H7N8 strains of the virus. All of those, however, were considered to be carrying “low pathogenic” strains, meaning the risk of widespread infection was not high. The vaccines that the agency had purchases for avian influenza are for H5 strains, because it was not anticipating H7 cases, he added. USDA has stockpiled millions of doses of a new vaccine designed to fight the 2015 strain, which is different than the one in Indiana, Myers said. Meanwhile, Kentucky moved swiftly to re-institute recent restrictions on bird sales and movement statewide after confirmation of the new H7N8 bird flu virus. “We are taking these steps out of an abundance of caution,” Kentucky state veterinarian Robert C. Stout said in a release. “We will do everything we can to keep our commercial and backyard poultry industries secure.”
Comments: Friday’s outbreak has yet to affect wholesale turkey prices, which never recovered from highs in the wake of last year’s bird flu epidemic. Now the focus will shift to reactions from US trade partners, as some still have bans on US poultry linked to the 2015 outbreak and so for some countries, this situation will not change any trade flows. However, others that have reduced or removed their trade blocks could opt to re-impose some restrictions. But odds are with those countries, the bans could be more targeted and limited to Indiana or potentially just the area within Indiana where the current case has been found. This situation will change quickly. Just hours after USDA confirmation of a new case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in an Indiana commercial turkey flock, some countries have already put trade bans in place, with several blocking poultry from the entire state. Here are countries USDA has confirmed as having put new restrictions in place on U.S> poultry as of Jan. 15 (Note: South Korea on Saturday announced it was banning U.S. poultry, with details still awaited): Japan
Ukraine:
Kazakhstan
South Africa
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