Indiana Poultry Farms Affected By HPAI H5
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The state of Indiana announced their 4th outbreak of HPAI H5 in poultry this afternoon, and New York State announced their first detection of the virus in backyard poultry on Long Island (Suffolk County), as avian flu continues to crop up across the Eastern half of the nation.
Our first report comes from the New York State government agricultural website.Although designated a zoonotic virus in the past year, the Eurasian HPAI H5Nx virus has only been associated with a handful of very mild human infections and so its threat to human health is currently believed to be low (see CDC Statement: `Low Risk' To Public From HPAI H5 Avian Flu).
Health Alerts
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
February 19, 2022 - A small, non-commercial backyard flock in Suffolk County, New York has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The flock had a total of eight birds in it. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the presence of HPAI after samples from the flock were tested at the Cornell University Animal Health Diagnostic Center and confirmed at the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa. The Department is working closely with USDA APHIS on a joint incident response. The announcement prompts reminders for commercial and hobby poultry farmers to increase their biosecurity measures to help prevent the spread of the disease.
AGM officials have quarantined the affected premises in Suffolk County, and the small number of remaining birds on the property will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock will not enter the food system. As part of existing avian influenza response plans, AGM and USDA are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in areas around the affected flock.
To date, additional cases of HPAI have been confirmed in wild birds in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Georgia, and Florida. Cases have also been detected in commercial flocks in Indiana and Kentucky, and a backyard flock in Virginia. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these recent HPAI detections in birds do not present an immediate public health concern. No human cases of these avian influenza viruses have been detected in the United States. As a reminder, the proper handling and cooking of poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 ˚F kills bacteria and viruses.
Further information about the USDA response can be found on their website.
New York State also issued the following biosecurity advisory to all poultry interests.
Poultry Farmers are Encouraged to Practice Biosecurity Measures to Prevent Spread of the Disease
(Excerpt)
State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball said, “Avian influenza outbreaks can spread quickly. We will continue to do all we can at the Department to safeguard the state’s flocks and encourage everyone who keeps poultry to be vigilant about minimizing their birds’ exposure to the virus and to wild bird populations. Our poultry industry is a significant part of the state’s agricultural industry and these biosecurity steps are our best line of defense against the disease.”
AGM officials are reaching out to poultry and egg farms across the state to ensure best practices are being implemented and to prepare for potential additional avian influenza cases in New York.
The Department encourages those involved in poultry production to take extra steps to prevent their flocks from becoming infected. All poultry producers, from small backyard to large commercial operations, should review their biosecurity plans and take precautions to protect their birds. Poultry biosecurity materials and checklists can be found on the USDA’s “Defend the Flock” website. Best practices include:
- Discourage unnecessary visitors and use biosecurity signs to warn people not to enter buildings without permission.
- Ask all visitors if they have had any contact with any birds in the past five days.
- Forbid entry to employees and visitors who own any kind of fowl.
- Require all visitors to cover and disinfect all footwear.
- Lock all entrances to chicken houses after hours.
- Avoid non-essential vehicular traffic on-farm.
- After hauling birds to processors, clean and disinfect poultry transport coops and vehicles before they return to the farm.
- Report anything unusual, especially sick or dead birds, to AGM.
In addition to practicing good biosecurity, poultry owners should keep their birds away from wild ducks and geese and their droppings. Outdoor access for poultry should be limited at this time.
To report sick birds, unexplained high number of deaths, or sudden drop in egg production, please contact AGM’s Division of Animal Industry at (518) 457-3502 or the USDA at (866) 536-7593.
Indiana continues to be the hardest hit state, with a 4th farm reported today, once again from Greene County. This update from the Indiana Board of Animal Health.
CURRENT SITUATION Avian influenza has been detected in an additional commercial poultry flock.GREENE2: Laboratory testing of a commercial flock of turkeys in Greene County has identified H5 avian influenza virus. This is considered a presumptive-positive case, and samples are being verified at the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) in Iowa. This is the fourth farm (known as Greene2) in Indiana to be diagnosed with avian influenza.
Pending test results should indicate if the virus is the same as the index farm diagnosed on Feb. 9 and if the virus is highly pathogenic. Depopulation efforts are underway on the premises, which includes 15,200 birds. The location of Greene2 is approximately 5 miles from the Greene1 site; therefore, a fourth 10-km circle has been established in Greene County. All commercial poultry within this new control area (13 farms) will be quarantined and tested regularly for the duration of this event (I.e., until the control area is lifted). About half of those farms are in the existing control area.BOAH staff continue to reach out to known hobby/backyard poultry owners in the control areas to schedule testing of birds to ensure the virus is not present. To date, 32 hobby flocks have been sampled; laboratory testing determined them as negative. Hobby poultry owners in Southern Dubois County or Greene County should contact BOAH at 317-544-2387 to schedule testing at no charge.
The last time HPAI H5 visited North America (2015), hundreds of farms were affected across 15 states and 2 provinces of Canada. More than 50 million birds were lost or destroyed, and the outbreak lasted from December well into June.
2015 Avian Flu Epizootic
Since then, HPAI H5Nx has undergone a number of reassortments with other avian viruses, which appear to have enhanced the virus's suitability for longer-term carriage in some migratory birds and it has increasingly been reported infecting mammalian wildlife (see here, here, and here).
Last May, in Science: Emerging H5N8 Avian Influenza Viruses, we looked at a review by two well-respected Chinese scientists (Weifeng Shi and George F. Gao) on the evolution, and growing zoonotic threat, of avian H5N8, stating:
- the ". . . global spread of AIVs, particularly the H5N8 subtype, has become a major concern to poultry farming and wildlife security but, critically, also to global public health."
- And due to the ". . . long-distance migration of wild birds, the innate capacity for reassortment of AIVs, the increased human-type receptor binding capability, and the constant antigenic variation of HPAIVs the authors warned that it was imperative that " . . . the global spread and potential risk of H5N8 AIVs to poultry farming, avian wildlife, and global public health are not ignored."
While primarily a concern for poultry producers, this new virus is harder to keep out of the coop than older iterations of HPAI H5, and it will require a maximum effort by poultry interests large and small to keep this epizootic from blowing up here, like it has in Europe.
