AR-News: Slaughter ordered after bird flu found in Maryland

[jim robertson]

Slaughter, quarantine ordered after bird flu found
Sunday, March 7, 2004 Posted: 8:13 PM EST (0113 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/03/07/bird.flu.maryland.ap/index.html

Workers at an infected poultry farm walk past one of the poultry buildings 
Sunday in Pocomoke City, Maryland.

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POCOMOKE CITY, Maryland (AP) -- The discovery of avian influenza in Maryland 
compelled agriculture officials to order the slaughter of 328,000 birds on 
two huge commercial chicken farms, nearly four times the number killed when 
two Delaware farms were infected last month.

The cases in Delaware and on Maryland's Eastern Shore are from the same H7 
strain, which is not harmful to humans, authorities said Sunday.

Maryland agriculture officials confirmed Saturday that a farm with about 
118,000 chickens was infected.

They ordered the slaughter of those birds, as well as 210,000 others at 
another farm about a mile away under the same ownership. The slaughter began 
Sunday and was expected to take until Tuesday.

Agriculture officials also ordered a quarantine that covers eight farms 
within a two-mile radius of the infected farm, which grows chickens on a 
contract basis for Mountaire Farms of Selbyville, Delaware. The department 
also began testing 79 poultry farms within a six-mile radius.

The infected farm in Worcester County is about 45 miles from the nearest 
infected farm in Delaware. Authorities said they had not discovered a 
connection between the cases, but could not rule out any relation.

Officials emphasized the strain of the virus is not a threat to humans, but 
it can wipe out poultry farms, especially if it turns up in a highly 
pathogenic form.

"It is discouraging, and it's surprising to us," Maryland Agriculture 
Secretary Lewis Riley, said Sunday at a news conference near the infected 
farm in Pocomoke City. "We're ready, and we're prepared to address it and to 
handle it."

The flu case dimmed hopes that international markets banning U.S. poultry 
would drop their embargoes. Those with a block on imports include the 
15-nation European Union, China, Japan, Mexico, Russia and South Korea.

A different, more dangerous avian influenza strain has killed some 100 
million birds in Asia and has been blamed for the deaths of more than 20 
people in Vietnam and Thailand.

"It's got everyone's palms sweating right now. It's a very serious 
situation," said Jeff Green, who works for a fertilizer distributor and owns 
a chicken farm in nearby Marion. "We hope the quarantine will get it under 
control."

Also on Sunday, Riley tightened a statewide ban on moving, gathering or 
selling live birds.

Industry leaders and state officials declined to identify the infected farm 
to keep away visitors who might spread the disease. But it is visible from a 
nearby state road, and workers in white plastic bio-security suits were seen 
Sunday cleaning out the chicken houses as state troopers blocked off the 
area.

Mountaire Farms officials did not immediately return a call Sunday.

Officials said they discovered the flu after a grower reported many of his 
chickens were dying. The state ordered the slaughter of birds on that farm 
as well as in houses about a mile away that are under the same ownership. A 
third farm owned by the grower is two miles away and will be observed this 
week, officials said.

A more dangerous strain of avian influenza was found in Texas last month.






Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full 
breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit 
itself to humankind.
Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize winner

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