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| Recent vND Detections In Southern California |
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In May of last year Southern California reported the first U.S. outbreak in 15 years of Virulent Newcastle Disease (vND), which was found in a small flock of backyard exhibition chickens in Los Angeles County.
A week later, the virus was detected in a backyard flock in San Bernardino County. Tens months into the crisis, and the number of outbreaks has grown to more than 400 with reportedly close to 1 million birds culled.With the exception of 1 case reported from Utah - epidemiologically linked to the current outbreak - all of the vND outbreaks have occurred in 4 Southern California counties; Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside & Ventura.
At least, until this week's announcement from the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) of a single bird found infected in Alameda County, in the San Francisco Bay region of Northern California.
Virulent Newcastle Disease Confirmed in Northern California
March 15, 2019: One chicken, submitted to a veterinary office in Redwood City, by a backyard bird owner that lived in Alameda County, has been confirmed positive for VND and has been euthanized. At this moment, CDFA and USDA are not aware of any other cases in Northern California, but are very actively investigating.
As a result, the San Mateo County fair - scheduled for early June - has cancelled their poultry exhibits.
For Immediate Release:March 14, 2019
San Mateo County Fair suspends 2019 poultry show
San Mateo, CA: Following the advice of the California Department of Food and Agriculture and due to the confirmed case of Newcastle disease in San Mateo County, the San Mateo County Fair is announcing the suspension of its 2019 poultry show in its Agricultural Livestock Department. The Board of Directors will formally take action on the Poultry Show suspension on March 27at its regularly scheduled board meeting.
“Due to the severity of this virus [Virulent Newcastle disease] and the serious threat to the poultry industry in California, the California Department of Food and Agriculture recommends that the San Mateo County Fair Board adopt a local policy addressing the suspension of its poultry show for the 2019 fair season,” stated Dana Stoehr, chief executive officer of the San Mateo County Fair.
“Our Board will work with the local 4-H and FFA representatives to coordinate a bird-less poultry exhibit for the 2019fair,” shared Justin Aquino, manager of the San Mateo County Fair. “We will encourage students to participate in an educational display to educate fair goers about the poultry industry.
”Poultry entries represented 241of the 5,818 plus entries to the 2018 San Mateo County Fair.
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Although it poses only a minor threat to human health, Virulent Newcastle Disease can be up to 100% fatal in poultry, and is a serious threat to poultry interests world wide. In humans, the virus generally causes mild flu-like illness and/or conjunctivitis.
According to the California Dept. of Food & Agriculture, the last outbreak in commercial poultry back in 2003 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.While only a small number of commercial flocks have been affected in this latest outbreak, the continued expansion of this virus constitutes a serious and ongoing threat to California's poultry industry.
