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 The federal government sprang into action on Friday after
confirmation overnight that the virus had hit an Indiana turkey
farm, alerting other states to the danger and putting workers who
might have been exposed to the virus under surveillance.
Last year's outbreak led to the deaths of more than 48 million
chickens and turkeys, either killed by the virus or culled to
contain it. No cases were reported in humans.
Strains similar to the new virus, known as H7N8, have on rare
occasions made people ill and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and
state officials aim to reduce the risk of human infection.
They also want to blunt the impact on the poultry industry, which
suffered billions of dollars in losses in last year's outbreak. Egg
supplies shrank and prices surged to record highs.
"We are hopeful that as we respond very quickly to this virus that
we can get it contained and hopefully not see an extensive outbreak
like we did last year," said T.J. Myers, an associate deputy
administrator for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service.
Even if the response is fast, the government's ability to contain
the disease is far from certain. Officials have never dealt with
this strain before, and wild birds are thought to spread the disease
to farms through feces dropped from the air, making infections
difficult to prevent.
U.S. officials have taken to heart lessons from last year's
outbreak, when USDA workers could not always kill infected flocks
fast enough to contain the virus. Workers are now trying to cull
sick flocks within 24 hours of diagnoses, following a goal the
agency set in the autumn.
Most turkeys at the infected farm were killed within a day, but it
was 29 hours before all were dead, said Denise Derrer, spokeswoman
for the Indiana State Board of Animal Health.
No human infections associated with the new strain have ever been
reported, according to the USDA.
ESPECIALLY DEADLY TO POULTRY
Still, people who interacted with infected turkeys were quickly
placed under a new monitoring plan developed in response to last
year's outbreak, Michael Jhung, a medical officer at the CDC, told
Reuters. The agency also plans to conduct lab tests and animal
studies of the virus.
Similar H7 viruses - which share the same surface proteins - have
caused problems in people ranging from mild, flu-like symptoms to
serious respiratory illness, Jhung said.
"We know very little about this particular virus because we haven't
seen it, but we want to take as many precautions as we can to
prevent any human infections," he said.
There is always uncertainty around any new strain of influenza
because the virus acquires mutations passing from host to host.
The Indiana flock appears to have become infected when a less
dangerous form of the virus in the area mutated, said John Clifford,
the USDA's chief veterinarian.
Limited genetic data from preliminary diagnostic tests last week
showed this H7N8 virus originated from North America, while last
year's strains had roots in Europe and Asia, government officials
said.
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North American viruses have typically posed less of a threat to
humans than viruses from the Asian Avian H5N1 lineage, said Carol
Cardona, an avian flu expert at the University of Minnesota.
Viruses in the H5N1 lineage "are super bad guys," Cardona said.
Still, outbreaks of North American viruses in Pennsylvania in 1983
and British Columbia in 2000 were "devastating and difficult" for
poultry, she added.
The new strain found in the United States, like these previous
viruses, is considered highly pathogenic, meaning it is especially
deadly to poultry.
MOBILIZING PERSONNEL, EQUIPMENT
In Indiana, the USDA quickly deployed personnel and equipment to
assist the state with culling birds and testing nearby flocks, said
Bret Marsh, Indiana's state veterinarian.
Marsh alerted other states about the new virus outbreak on an
emergency conference call in the early hours on Friday.
"We realize that if it's indeed of wild bird origin, they know no
boundaries so we want to make sure that everyone is properly
informed," Marsh told reporters.
Bird flu cost the U.S. poultry industry an estimated $3.3 billion in
2015 as farmers had to destroy infected flocks and halt production
for months. Importers also cut back on trade in the $5.7 billion
poultry and egg export market, and some have already limited
shipments because of this new outbreak.
U.S. negotiators have worked with trading partners in the past year
to focus restrictions on infected counties or states, instead of
blocking shipments from the entire country, said Toby Moore,
spokesman for the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. That could
minimize the economic burden of outbreaks.
Farmers also have strengthened cleaning and security practices in a
bid to keep out the virus, with many requiring workers to change
their shoes before entering barns and barring delivery trucks from
getting too close to poultry houses.
"In the poultry business, there's a positive determination that this
new strain not have any chance at proving what it might be able to
do," said Keith Williams, a spokesman for the National Turkey
Federation, a trade group.
(Writing by Tom Polansek; Editing by Jo Winterbottom and Mary
Milliken)
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