#16,685
Anyone who has bought eggs in the past few weeks in the United States is already aware of the impact this year's avian epizootic is having on the price of food. Here, in Florida, I'm paying nearly $3 a dozen, a doubling of the price in just a few weeks.
While the impacts are nowhere near as bad as they were in 2015 - during the last North American avian epizootic - we still likely have at least a couple of months of outbreaks ahead.
The costs of culling entire flocks - sometimes involving millions birds - of safely disposing of their infected carcasses, disinfecting farms, and restocking can be enormous. Additionally, in hard hit Iowa, local media is reporting the loss of more than 200 jobs in one county (Buena Vista) alone.
While avian flu has become a yearly visitor to Asia, and more recently to Europe, so far North American outbreaks have been rare. After the last outbreak in 2015, the virus vanished from wild birds, and has only returned now following a fresh introduction of the virus by migratory birds from Europe.
The rapid dissemination of HPAI across the country (and across Canada) - along with recent mutations that allow a wider range of avian species carry the virus - raise new concerns that the virus may not disappear completely over the summer, as it has in the past.
Unlike the more dangerous HPAI H5 viruses found in Asia (H5N1, H5N6), our current Eurasian HPAI H5N1 is is believed to pose a low risk to public health (see March 7, 2022 Update: H5N1 Bird Flu Poses Low Risk to the Public), and - for now, at least - remains primarily a threat to wild birds and poultry.USDA Confirms Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Colorado
Published: Apr 9, 2022
WASHINGTON, April 9, 2022 – The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a non-commercial backyard flock (poultry) in Pitkin County, Colorado.
Samples from the flock were tested at the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, part of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, and confirmed at the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa.
APHIS is working closely with state animal health officials in the state on a joint incident response. State officials quarantined the affected premises, and birds on the property will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock will not enter the food system.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the recent HPAI detections 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 all poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 ˚F is recommended as a general food safety precaution.
As part of existing avian influenza response plans, Federal and State partners are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in areas around the affected flocks. The United States has the strongest AI surveillance program in the world, and USDA is working with its partners to actively look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations.
Anyone involved with poultry production from the small backyard to the large commercial producer should review their biosecurity activities to assure the health of their birds. APHIS has materials about biosecurity, including videos, checklists, and a toolkit available at: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information/avian/defend-the-flock-program/dtf-resources/dtf-resources.
