Wednesday, January 30, 2019

CDFA/USDA Update On Virulent Newcastle Disease - Southern California - Utah


Affected Areas In California

















#13,820

In May of 2018 Virulent Newcastle Disease (vND) reappeared in Southern California - after an absence of 15 years in the United States - and began to spread among backyard exhibition poultry.
Until mid-December, all of the outbreaks had been in backyard birds, but on December 14th the virus was discovered in commercial table egg pullets in Riverside county, marking the first such detection in American commercial poultry in 15 years.
Since then two additional commercial operations have been hit (see USDA Confirms 3rd Commercial Poultry Flock Hit With Virulent Newcastle Disease) and 10 days ago we learned the virus had been exported to a backyard exhibition flock in Utah.

As of December 21st, 2018 - just prior to the government shutdown - the USDA's official count of Newcastle outbreaks/detections in Southern California sat at 231 cases of vND in California.
  • 104 in San Bernardino County
  • 87 in Riverside County 
  • 39 in Los Angeles County 
  • 1 in Ventura County. 
Yesterday, with the wheels of government once again in motion, the USDA updated their Newcastle website and outbreak count.
Virulent Newcastle Disease (vND)
Last Modified: Jan 29, 2019 
Virulent Newcastle disease, formerly known as exotic Newcastle disease, is a contagious and fatal viral disease affecting the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems of birds and poultry. The disease is so virulent that many birds and poultry die without showing any clinical signs.

Virulent Newcastle disease is not a food safety concern.  No human cases of Newcastle disease have ever occurred from eating poultry products.  Properly cooked poultry products are safe to eat.  

In very rare instances, people working directly with sick birds can become infected with mild symptoms, such as conjunctivitis.  These are easily prevent with personal protective equipment.

Since May 18, USDA has confirmed 314 cases of vND in California, including 107 in San Bernardino County, 166 in Riverside County, 40 in Los Angeles County and 1 in Ventura County. USDA also confirmed 1 case in Utah County, Utah:

Of the 83 cases reported in Southern California over the past five weeks, 79 (95%) occurred in Riverside County.

While the economic impact of this outbreak has been limited, there are still concerns we could see a repeat of the last outbreak in commercial poultry - back in 2003 - which led to the depopulation of 3.16 million birds at a cost of $161 million.  
Prior to that, in 1971, an outbreak in Southern California led the culling of 12 million birds.
In order to promote awareness, and hopefully contain this prolonged outbreak, California's Department of Food and Agriculture has a number of resources available on their Newcastle webpage.

More information on Virulent Newcastle Disease
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