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.”