PBS NEWS How did Iowa's Avian Flu outbreak get this bad?

[gpatt0n]

How did Iowa's AvianFlu outbreak get this bad? Published on May 3, 2015 Iowa, the country's largestegg-producing state, declared a major outbreak of theAvian Flu. And to try and contain the disease, millionsof chickens and turkeys there and in Wisconsin andMinnesota have been killed. Amy Mayer, a reporter forHarvest Public Media at Iowa Public Radio joins HariSreenivasan via Skype from Ames, Iowa, to discuss.

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[surepip]

The scientific community is beyond perplexed.

 

We have generally felt for many years that AI is fecally transmitted from the gut of systemically infected waterfowl, to an intermediete host, and then [by means of a lapse in BioSecurity Protocol] into a chicken or turkey facility.

 

We know, again generally, waterfowl such as ducks and geese are typically systemic carriers of low path and high parth, but typically our North American waterfowl did not actually catch the disease. This variety they are catching.....and being found dead around lakes and waterways in the Mississippi and Pacific flyways.

 

It can be as simple a lapse in protocol as a duck pooping while flying overhead, grazing nearby, etc.

 

A chicken farmer/working stepping in it, and then entering a facility without changing his boots or putting on booties. There is also a foot bath of powerful disinfectant at all of the entry/exit doors.

 

A concensus now is agreeing this is moving to rapidly to be such an innocuous transmission, and unfortunately the finger points to general airborne transmissions is letting the inlet fan suck contaminated air into the houses and infecting them. If this is the case, we have a rough spring ahead.

 

Take note that the industry wrote up rules and protocol for handling AI years ago, to protect themselves. Each state is a little different, but basically we have much miore strict protolcol for biosecurity, containment, and destroying the birds than the USDA does. Most of these have been in place for going on to 2 decades.

 

Every confined flock is random tested weekly with a quick 30 minute blood test that shows positive or negative for exposure to an AI virus, no specific variety. If it comes back positive, a more specific testing protocol goes into effect to identify H2N2, etc., and how pathenogenic it is.

 

Every bird facility registered with the state will show up on a GPS map, and every bird within 6 miles of that farm will be specific tested.

 

The largest problem the industry is dealing with now is how to dispose of 20,000,000 4-4-1/2 pound birds in a 40 mile circle without moving any carcasses off the farm and/or having them outside exposed to the elements for any time.

 

Cage layer houses have concrete bottoms, manure pits with scraper conveyors for pulling the manure out. Between the rows of cages are sidewalks about 30" wide, barely wide enough to walk, and you have to turn sideways to pass each other. I don't see how it will be possible to compost on site in the houses like we do with a broiler or meat flock house if they were to get a similar disease. Broiler houses have concrete side foundations and piers, but other than that are dirt floors.

 

I assume any and all proprietors of incinerators of sufficient size are hauling them towards NW Iowa.

 

But 20million, and increasing ....

 

.....Dayam thats a gigantic number to wrap your brain around.

[The Sound Guy]

I read somewhere (can't find it now) that it's 25% of the birds in Iowa are now infected.

 

Surepip - Where is the production of Fertilized Eggs and chicks based? Do you think that operation could be impacted by this flu?

 

Seems to me that if a lost a hefty percentage of the ability to make new fertilized eggs we would go from years to recover to decades to recover.

[surepip]

Iowa's numbers are approaching half the layers in the state. This variety of AI, H5N2 I think is showing itself to be 100% lethal/fatal in 96 hours or less.

 

The Breeders with hatching egg production run from Oklahoma/East Texas across the soybean belt east back up to Pennsylviania and Delmarva. The Primary Breeders are from NW Arkansas back through the Smokles and up the Blue Ridge. Fewer disease problems over 1500 feet in elevation so they tend to the high altitudes in typically secluded area.