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12 CapitalPress.com February 13, 2015 Avian influenza’s deadly effect on agriculture alter as they circulate among wild birds. 2014 Jan. 17 — Highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu detected in South Korea among breeding ducks. Eventually, there are 29 outbreaks and 12 million birds are culled to contain the virus. GREENLAND Jan. 23 — Foster Farms finds H5N8 bird flu on a turkey farm in Stanislaus County in California’s Central Valley. It’s the first commercial operation to be infected. GERMANY NETHERLANDS ALASKA (U.S.) RUSSIA CANADA including a total ban on U.S. poultry by South Korea. Until then, South Korea had been importing $8.7 million worth of U.S. poultry each month. Jan. 16 — H5N2 found in a non- commer- cial flock in Clallam County on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Jan. 29 — Cooper’s hawk Avian flu confirmed in 5,000 game bird flock in Okanogan County in north-central Washington. On the same day, USDA confirms a Cooper's hawk collected in Whatcom County had bird flu. It's the first documented case of the virus in a wild raptor. Several more cases follow. 2015 Jan. 16 — Bird flu spreads to Idaho, as a backyard flock in Canyon County, near the Oregon border, tests positive for H5N2. Jan. 30 — The Nevada Department of Agriculture announces a mallard duck collected in southern Nevada tested positive. It's the state's first case. Jan. 16 — A third bird flu strain confirmed in Washington. A green winged-teal duck shot by a hunter near Sumas in Whatcom County had a H5N1 virus that was a mix of highly pathogenic Eurasian and low pathogenic North American strains. Health officials say the new virus is different than the H5N1 virus linked to more than 400 deaths in the past decade, but it shows bird flu viruses Feb. 2 — USDA finds several wild ducks collected in Oregon in Morrow, Columbia and Lane counties in early January had bird flu. UNITED KINGDOM EUROPE U.S. April 13 — Japan reports H5N8 outbreak; 112,000 birds are destroyed to contain virus. CHINA MIDDLE EAST MEX. INDIA AFRICA September — New South Korean H5N8 case breaks out among ducks reared for meat; 1,200 ducks die and 19,800 are culled. JAPAN S. KOREA S.E. ASIA October — China reports two H5N8 outbreaks. Nov. 4 — H5N8 appears in Europe on a turkey farm in Germany. Other cases appear in the Netherlands and United Kingdom by mid-month. The World Organization for Animal Health reports migratory birds are likely spreading the H5N8 virus and it’s related to the H5N1 strain that has killed more than 400 people in the past decade. The organization sees a low risk to human health, but recommends “extreme vigilance” to keep the virus from infecting poultry. Dec. 1-19 — H5N2 bird flu strikes eight chicken farms, three turkey farms and one backyard flock of ducks, chickens, geese and turkeys in British Columbia, Canada, near the Washington border; 245,600 birds die or are destroyed. Dec. 16 — A S. AMERICA northern pintail duck found dead at Wiser Lake in Whatcom County tests positive for H5N2. A fungal disease, not bird flu, Northern killed the duck, but the pintail finding alerts authorities to the presence of a highly pathogenic strain of Eurasian bird flu in the United States. Over the next month, bird flu is detected in wild birds in Oregon, Idaho, California and Utah. Dec. 19 — The USDA confirms H5N8 in a backyard flock in Winston, Ore. The owner contacted authorities when his guinea fowl suddenly died. The finding causes immediate trade sanctions, AUSTRALIA Jan. 3 — H5N2 strikes a non- commercial flock in Benton County in south-central Washington. Jan. 9 — H5N2 confirmed in a second Benton County backyard flock. Jan. 9 — China bans U.S. poultry, the most significant trade fallout yet from bird flu. The U.S. exported $354 million worth of poultry products to China in 2013, about 7 percent of total poultry exports. Feb. 3 — Another Washington backyard flock infected. This one is in Okanogan County. Sources: USDA; World Organization for Animal Health; Washington Dept. of Agriculture; Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife; Oregon Dept. of Agriculture; Census Bureau; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Don Jenkins and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press ‘There’s a lot of concern about what’s going to happen next’ BIRD FLU from Page 1 So the Washington state fl ock with the single dead goose was euthanized, with the federal government com- pensating the owner for her loss. Washington State Veter- inarian Joe Baker said the experience demonstrated that containing bird fl u will re- quire vigilance. “It’s kind of dangerous to say, ‘It’s just one dead bird. It’s not important,’” he said. New viruses Until mid-December, highly pathogenic bird fl u had never been detected in the U.S. West. Since then, mi- gratory ducks, native raptors, backyard fl ocks and commer- cial poultry have been infect- ed in six Western states and British Columbia, Canada. They are all part of an overlapping web of viruses spread across the Northern Hemisphere by migratory birds. Animal health offi cials had long talked about the pos- sibility of a virulent Eurasian bird fl u strain spreading to North America. This year it happened, posing a threat to the $4 billion-a-year Cana- dian poultry industry and the $44 billion U.S. poultry in- dustry. Plus, this particular Eur- asian virus, an H5N8 strain that appeared 13 months ago in South Korea, is mixing with North American viruses to create new H5N2 and H5N1 strains. So far, Washington is the only state where all three have been confi rmed. Canada has had the Eurasian-North American H5N2 and H5N1, but not the H5N8. It was the discovery of H5N1 in a green-winged teal duck that Baker described as “scary.” H5N1 viruses have killed more than 400 people in the past decade, according to the World Health Organization. Further tests, however, showed the version of the vi- rus that showed up in Wash- ington state virus was genet- ically different from the one that has been deadly to hu- mans in Asia and Africa. Changing viruses The letters “H” and “N” stand for two proteins — he- magluttin (HA) and neur- aminidase (NA). There are 16 HA and nine NA subtypes, making many combinations possible. Some combinations are known to infect birds, while other combinations in- fect people. Gene sequencing is used to identify the virus. Despite its name, the H5N1 found in Washington is more closely related to the Eurasian H5N8 and Eur- asian-North American H5N2 strains, which have not been known to infect people. The virus’ appearance, Don Jenkins/Capital Press Washington State Veterinarian Joe Baker, shown here in his offi ce in Olympia, foresees highly pathogenic avian infl uenza circulating in the region for at least a couple more years. however, illustrated that the disease is constantly being re- shaped in the wild. “The thing about avian infl uenza viruses is that the only thing predictable about them is they will change,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife veterinarian Kristin Mansfi eld said. In January 2014, the H5N8 virus struck a South Korean duck farm. The virus spread to 29 farms, and more than 600,000 birds were culled to contain it, according to the Organization for Animal Health. The same H5N8 virus then surfaced elsewhere in Asia, then Europe in November and fi nally North America in De- cember. Various highly patho- genic bird fl u viruses also have been reported this winter in Africa and the Middle East. Bird fl u poses a well- known threat to chickens and turkeys. But the disease is fa- tal to many wild bird species as well. A pelican found dead in late January was the fi rst avian fl u victim in Bulgaria. Meanwhile, dozens of spe- cies of migrating birds, im- mune to the disease, carry the virus in their bowels. Back- yard fl ocks raised outdoors along migratory routes are especially vulnerable. Avian fl u outbreaks have also been traced to live bird markets in developing countries. But the virus in the past three months has penetrated commercial poultry farms in several Eu- ropean countries, Canada and California. The outbreaks have caused trade restrictions, including disrupting the fl ow of breed- ing stock, which could affect future poultry and food sup- plies, warned USA Poultry and Egg Export Council Pres- ident Jim Sumner. “It’s a growing world problem,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk, a lot of concern about what’s going to happen next.” New strains appear Bird fl u has been around a long time. An Italian sci- entist, Edoardo Perroncito, is credited with being the fi rst to describe a highly conta- gious disease lethal to poul- try. In 1878, he called it “fowl plague.” In 1955, researchers discovered the disease was a type A infl uenza. Avian infl uenza threatens trade, food supplies and, in rare cases, human health, ac- cording to the Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention. The Pacifi c Flyway, the route traveled by virus-carry- ing waterfowl, extends from Alaska to the tip of South America. The USDA has not yet reported any bird fl u fi ndings south of southern Nevada. No Latin American country has reported fi nding highly pathogenic bird fl u to the World Organization for Animal Health, which is also known by the initials OIE, from the French translation of the agency’s name. Those birds will retrace their movements in the spring. How long the virus will linger in the West nobody knows, Baker said. “That’s something we can only guess at,” he said. “I don’t think anyone can predict the path this will follow.” It’s unclear how many mi- grating birds are spreading the virus. Federal and state offi cials have tested hundreds of dead wild birds since De- cember. So far, the USDA has confi rmed fi nding the virus in 25 of them. The sampling is hardly scientifi c. “We don’t know the prev- alence in wild species,” Baker said. In 2003, a World Organi- zation for Animal Health pan- el warned that poultry raised outdoors along migratory routes was at risk. But bird fl u fi rst struck Europe at indoor poultry operations. The fi rst H5N8 case was confi rmed Nov. 4 at a com- mercial turkey farm in Ger- many. More outbreaks were soon reported at commercial farms in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. There are no known direct migratory fl yways between Europe and Southeast Asia, where H5N8 originated. The European Food Safety Au- thority has speculated that it’s most plausible the infection was introduced into farms from contaminated farm equipment. Foster Farms, which had $2.2 billion in sales in 2013, says it tightened security at turkey farms in Central Cal- ifornia after avian infl uenza was detected in the Pacifi c Flyway late last year. Never- theless, the virus in late Jan- uary infected a turkey barn in Stanislaus County. Some 145,000 birds were destroyed as offi cials moved to stop its spread. Foster Farms referred questions about how the out- break occurred to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Agency spokeswoman Joelle Hayden said the investigation is still ongoing. Canadian authorities have provided little insight into how bird fl u spread through 11 British Columbia poultry farms between Dec. 1 and 17. Some 245,600 chickens and turkeys have since been de- stroyed. “A defi nitive source has not been confi rmed but wild migratory birds are a known reservoir of avian infl uenza virus. There is a signifi cant wild bird population in the Fraser Valley and it is a known fl yway for migrating birds,” Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokeswoman Tam- my Jarbeau wrote in an email. Markets close The stakes are high for the U.S. poultry industry. Exports account for about one-fi fth of the industry’s business, ac- cording to Sumner. With every new bird fl u case, authorities inevitably stress avian infl uenza is not a risk to human health or food safety. Properly cooked, poul- try is safe, they say. Still, countries, including the United States, routine- ly react by banning poultry imports from infected areas. Most countries have limit- ed their bans to poultry from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California, where domes- tic fl ocks have been infected. None of those states are major poultry exporters. The bigger worry for the U.S. poultry industry is that China and South Korea, ma- jor customers, have banned all U.S. poultry imports. South Korea has a policy of banning poultry imports for at least six months after an outbreak. Each new U.S. case resets the clock. The USDA has criticized the bans as too broad and not based on “good science.” Sumner said bird fl u is being used as excuse by China to address its surplus of domes- tic poultry. U.S. consumers eat all the chicken wings and breasts raised here. But foreign coun- tries are markets for poultry parts that aren’t popular with American consumers. In China, chicken feet are a crunchy delicacy. Poultry producers can sell “paws” to China for 90 cents a pound, Sumner said. With the ban in place, the feet might fetch two or three pennies a pound for use as pet food or fertilizer, he said. The good news for the poultry industry is that so far bird fl u hasn’t led to concerns about domestic consumption. Sumner said “hysteria” asso- ciated with past animal dis- eases has been absent. “We have had absolutely zero public concerns about avian infl uenza these days, which is great because there needs to be zero public con- cern,” Sumner said. ‘Continuing pattern’ Baker said he suspects that based on prior outbreaks elsewhere, highly pathogenic bird fl u will be a problem in the West for at least a couple more years. “We have to assume there’s going to be a continuing pat- tern,” he said. “I think we’ll continue to see it in isolated fl ocks.” The challenge will be con- taining the virus, which is a time-consuming job for state and federal offi cials. Baker said backyard fl ock owners need to do their part. A couple dozen dead guinea fowl in Oregon in mid-De- cember touched off a wave of trade sanctions. “A backyard fl ock, a tiny cluster of chickens, can have a profound impact on the poul- try industry,” he said. Steps as simple as cover- ing outdoor cages with a tarp, disinfecting surfaces with bleach and having shoes and clothes set aside for working around the fl ock can help, he said. “These are inexpensive measures.” The virus has proven im- possible to shut out entirely. Foster Farms issued a state- ment after the outbreak in California saying the compa- ny “has long employed strict and industry leading biosecu- rity practices.” But, Baker said, “Biose- curity measures are not abso- lute.”