AR-News: (BC) Avian flu hits valley third time

[jim robertson]

Avian flu hits valley third time
Virus believed to be under control a week ago was confirmed Monday at third 
site

Chad Skelton
Vancouver Sun


Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Federal authorities are planning to destroy another 8,500 chickens after 
avian flu was discovered on a third farm in the Fraser Valley, bringing the 
number of birds destroyed since the outbreak began to more than 60,000.

Cornelius Kiley, a veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 
said Monday a farm within the five-km "high-risk zone" near two previous 
infected farms reported a spike in mortality over the weekend.

The agency sent samples from the dead birds to the National Centre for 
Foreign Animal Diseases in Winnipeg, which determined Monday the third farm 
was also infected with avian flu.

The previous farms were infected with a strain known as H7N3, a very deadly 
form of the virus.

Kiley said researchers have determined the virus on the third farm is of the 
general H7 type, but do not yet know if it is the same strain.

The CFIA has not identified the third farm, but Kiley said it is located 
near the second infected farm, Fraserbridge Poultry.

The H7 virus is not the same strain that has killed several people in Asia 
and is not believed to pose any serious risk to humans.

News that a third farm in the high-risk zone has become infected comes 
despite initial signs a week ago that the virus was under control.

After the virus was found on a second farm on March 9, officials with the 
CFIA conducted random blood tests on birds within a five-km radius of the 
infected farms.

More than 2,000 birds were tested, with a random sampling of 60 birds from 
each barn. (Each farm has more than one barn.)

All of those tests showed negative for avian influenza, including birds 
tested on the third farm.

On Monday, Kiley said it can sometimes take as long as a week for a bird 
that has become infected to "seroconvert" -- meaning its blood builds 
antibodies to the virus, which makes it possible for the virus to be 
detected in blood tests.

Last month, 16,000 chickens were destroyed at Loewen Acres farm in Matsqui 
after the first case of avian flu was detected.

Another 36,000 chickens were destroyed after the virus was discovered at the 
second farm, Fraserbridge Poultry, about two km from Loewen Acres.

Kiley said the CFIA does not yet know how the virus has spread from one farm 
to the other, although it has said in the past that ducks -- which can carry 
the virus without becoming sick -- may be introducing the virus to farms.

The CFIA issued a public statement following the detection of the virus at 
the first two farms.

However, it did not reveal a third farm had been infected until questioned 
by reporters.

Kiley said while the agency notified representatives of the industry, it did 
not send out a press release because the virus poses no risk to the general 
public's health.

In addition to the five-km "high risk" zone around the infected farms, the 
CFIA has also established a 10-km "surveillance" perimeter, in which 
inspectors are monitoring for signs of infected birds.

The entire Lower Mainland, from the North Shore to the U.S. border, has been 
declared an "avian influenza control area," meaning live birds and poultry 
cannot be transported in or out of the area without a permit, a decision 
that has led to poultry shortages in parts of the province.

cskelton at png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2004




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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