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1. Bird flu strikes biggest Minnesota farm yet; 1.1M chickens
Ten total cases in Wisconsin: Bird flu detected on two more farms in Barron, Jefferson counties
Associated Press
SFGate.com
May 4, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Bird flu has struck its biggest operation yet in Minnesota - a farm with over 1.1 million chickens in Nicollet County of south-central Minnesota.
And number of farms hit by the virus across the state has now grown to 80.
The Minnesota Board of Animal Health said Monday it's the first farm in Nicollet County with a presumptive positive test for the H2N2 virus, which has now cost Minnesota poultry producers over 5.3 million birds.
The board also reports that Renville County has seen its first outbreak, at a farm with 12,900 turkeys. And the board also reports new cases at turkey farms in Kandiyohi, Pipestone and Swift counties.
Source:
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bird-flu-strikes-biggest-Minnesota-farm-yet-1-1M-6241274.php
See Also:
Ten total cases in Wisconsin: Bird flu detected on two more farms in Barron, Jefferson counties
By Katie DeLong
Fox6Now.com
May 4, 2015
JEFFERSON COUNTY (WITI) - H5 avian influenza has been detected on two more farms in Barron and Jefferson counties, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection announced Monday, May 4th. Wisconsin now has 10 total cases. While lethal to domestic poultry, the strain of virus detected is not known to have caused disease in humans and is not expected to pose a risk to public health or the food supply.
Details of the two new detections are as follows:
Barron-14,600 breeding turkeys (commercial)
Jefferson-127,970 chickens (commercial)
As with past detections, each property was immediately quarantined and neighboring properties with poultry will be notified about the situation. Remaining birds will be depopulated and will not enter the food supply. Following USDA protocols, surveillance and testing procedures will take place at properties near the affected facility to ensure the virus has not spread.
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/l7j3asm
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2. Bird flu virus raises questions scientists working to answer
Associated Press
Columbia Daily Tribune
May 3, 2015
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - It has been five months since the H5N2 bird flu virus was discovered in the United States, and producers have lost 21 million birds in the Midwest alone. Yet, researchers acknowledge they still know little about a bird flu virus that is endangered turkey and egg-laying chicken populations that supply much of the nation.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies are puzzled by the H5N2 virus' spread - even amid heightened biosecurity measures - and apparent lack of widespread deaths in largely unprotected backyard flocks.
"At this point, we don't know very much about these viruses because they've only recently been identified," said Alicia Fry, the CDC's leader of the influenza prevention and control team. "We're following the situation very closely because this is something we're continuing to understand."
The current H5N2 virus surfaced last winter in Canada and was first identified in the United States in early December, when it was found in a wild bird on the West Coast.
This spring, the virus was found in poultry operations in eight Midwest states, forcing commercial producers to kill and compost millions of turkeys and chickens in Iowa, Minnesota and elsewhere.
Scientists speculate that perhaps rodents or small birds, seeking food, tracked the virus into barns. Maybe it's the work of flies, as the bird flu virus had been found on the insects in a Pennsylvania outbreak in 1983 and in Japan in 2004. The USDA's chief veterinarian even floated the idea last week wind may be blowing dust and feathers carrying the virus from the barnyard into buildings through air vents.
"To me, the main concern is the disease is moving even with heightened biosecurity," said Richard French, a professor of animal health at Becker College in Worcester, Massachusetts. "Ideally we've got to try and figure out the way it's most likely moving and try to put controls in place to stop that."
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/kqh7gqu
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3. University of Vermont team gets grant to study animal biosecurity
WPTZ.com
May 1, 2015
BURLINGTON, Vt. -A team from the University of Vermont is helping lead a five-year $7.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to look for ways to reduce the impact of catastrophic disease outbreaks within the livestock industry.
The end product of the effort will be a variety of research-based messaging strategies, educational programs and other initiatives designed to protect food-producing livestock from new, emerging or foreign diseases and pests.
Team leader Julie Smith says changing the behaviors of producers, veterinarians and others in the livestock supply chain is just as important as introducing new bio-security products like vaccines.
Full text:
http://www.wptz.com/news/university-of-vermont-team-gets-grant-to-study-animal-biosecurity/32704566
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4. Equine Infectious Anemia reported in four West Tenn horses
Knoxville News Sentinel
April 30, 2015
A small outbreak of Equine Infectious Anemia has been confirmed in horses in West Tennessee.
Four horses stabled at three locations in Henderson County recently tested positive for the disease. A second round of screening confirmed the positive results, and state officials now are testing more horses stabled with, or near, the infected horses.
Equine Infectious Anemia is a viral disease commonly transmitted by biting insects. There is no vaccine or treatment. Although an infected horse can run a low-grade fever or become lethargic, there often are no clinical signs. A horse remains infected throughout its lifetime and can pass the disease to other horses.
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/pe82p7t
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5. Michigan EHV-1: Some Quarantines Released
By Edited Press Release
TheHorse.com
May 4, 2015
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) has released several premises in that state from quarantine due to equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1). A total of four Michigan horses were diagnosed with EHV-1 in late March and early April.
"On April 28, MDARD released the Livingston County index farm where there were two positive horses (one was euthanized)," a May 1 statement from the department read. "There were also an additional two premises-one in Ionia County and one in Saginaw County-that had no EHV-1 positive horses but had had exposure to the index horse that were released from quarantine during the week of April 19. These farms were released from quarantine because the horses at the property had not exhibited fevers or signs consistent with EHV-1 for 28 consecutive days."
No new EHV-1 cases have been diagnosed since April 3, the department said.
Full text:
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/35736/michigan-ehv-1-some-quarantines-released
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6. Hog farmers more likely to carry drug-resistant bacteria: U.S. study
By Tom Polansek, Reuters
GlobalPost.com
May 1, 2015
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hog farmers are six times more likely than the general population to carry an infectious bacteria that can cause skin and respiratory problems and resists treatment from multiple drugs, according to a new U.S. research study.
The study, published this week in the online journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, is the largest-ever examination of infections of Staphylococcus aureus, or staph, in a group of livestock workers. It comes amid rising concern that widespread antibiotic use in meat production could create risks to human health.
Staph is a leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections in humans. Most infections are not life threatening, but the bacteria can lead to pneumonia and turn deadly if they infect the bloodstream, bones and joints, or lungs.
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/maxxnqt
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7. General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan
Federal Register Volume 80, Number 84 (Friday, May 1, 2015)
Notices
Pages 24893-24894
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-10196]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Docket No. APHIS-2015-0026
General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
SUMMARY: We are giving notice of a meeting of the General Conference Committee of the National Poultry Improvement Plan.
DATES: The General Conference Committee meeting will be held on July 23, 2015, 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Little America Hotel, 500 South Main Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84101.
Full text:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-05-01/html/2015-10196.htm
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