Farms Undergoing Avian Flu Testing
Last updated Monday, June 16, 2008 7:22 PM CDT in News
By Kim Souza
THE MORNING NEWS
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HOGEYE -- State officials Monday tested about 50 farms with backyard flocks of ducks, turkeys, chicken and other poultry species for the avian influenza virus found on a neighboring commercial poultry farm near West Fork.
The quarantine covering a 6.2-mile radius of the suspect farm was invoked last Wednesday when subsequent testing from the infected West Fork farm found the low-pathogenic H7N3 virus present in one sample, said Jon Fitch, director of the Livestock and Poultry Commission. Early results showed only exposure, but further testing implied the virus was present in at least one sample, which increased the response protocol.
Fitch and a team of 12 are working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to test all noncommercial flocks in the 6.2-mile quarantined area. He said the two rounds of testing are part of the state's Avian Influenza Response Plan on file with the federal government.
The team expects to finish the first round of testing early this week and will return in 10 days for round two. None of the poultry in the quarantined area can be moved until all the testing is completed and results are known.
Fitch, who is heading up the testing under way at the Hogeye Mall station, said locating all the farms in the remote area has been a challenge. The federal Agriculture Department will shoulder most of the costs related to the testing and the expenses for the response team, he said.
"We spent the first couple of days just driving the roads, stopping at every house. The extension services in both Washington and Crawford counties and the county judges have been a great help in locating the farms in this mountainous and sparsely populated area," Fitch said.
The second round of testing won't take as long now that the team knows where the farms are located.
Fitch said all preliminary testing has been negative for any traces of the H7N3 virus. If the antibodies or traces of the virus are found, the suspect birds would be killed and buried, according to protocol. In addition, the quarantine area would expand to 10 miles and the team would start over with the testing process.
All commercial poultry farms located in a 10-mile radius of the suspect farm were tested at the expense of Tyson Foods as a precautionary measure after the H7N3 virus was found in a sample taken from a Tyson Foods' breeder flock.
"There were only a handful of commercial farms in the area, and some of those did not have any birds on the premises at the time of the outbreak," Fitch said.
Poultry specialists with the University of Arkansas Poultry Science said while the protocol may seem extreme, state and federal governments are serious about even the low-pathogenic strains of avian influenza.
This is necessary because viruses are constantly changing, and they might adapt over time to infect and spread among humans, according to data released by the federal Centers for Disease Control.
The centers reports that while rare, human illness due to infection with low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses has been documented. They report the H7N7 and H7N2 have caused human sickness, while high-pathogenic strains are linked to more than 400 deaths in a dozen countries in Africa, Asia and Europe where birds and people live in close proximity.
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