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1. State Update To Avian Flu In Dubois County [edited]
WBIW.com
January 19, 2016
DUBOIS CO. - Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH) and U.S. Department of Agriculture teams have visited 900-plus residences in a 10-kilometer radius "control area" around the original site to identify small, "backyard" flocks of birds for precautionary monitoring and testing. To date, 27 such flocks have been identified. These efforts will continue.
Indiana State Veterinarian Bret D. Marsh, DVM, announced Wednesday the addition of an extra 10-kilomenter "surveillance zone," beyond the 10-km control area. This is an added precaution to ensure the region is influenza-free. ("Kilometers" are used rather than "miles" because of international standardization protocols for such situations.)
There are 155,000 egg-laying chickens ("layers") that are NOT infected, but are being depopulated and disposed of via landfill because the facility is considered a "dangerous contact" to an infected turkey flock. The laying facility is located very close to an infected barn, putting the birds at high risk of contracting the disease. These chickens do not have influenza. This brings the total number of birds affected to 401,163.
Control area flock tests continue to come back with NEGATIVE results, meaning no virus was detected. In the last 24 hours, 221 tests have been submitted.
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2. Poultry Exports Hampered as Depopulation of 400,000 Birds Takes Place in Indiana [edited]
By Anna-Lisa Laca
AgWeb.com
January 18, 2016
The news that a new strain of avian influenza (H7N8) was detected on an Indiana turkey farm last week has alarmed those in agriculture about the prospect of another devastating outbreak of bird flu. Dr. TJ Myers, associate deputy administrator, for USDA's APHIS Veterinary Service, updated producers on the situation during Monday's AgriTalk.
2015 Lesson Learned: Depopulate Quickly
The H7N8 strain of avian influenza is of North American lineage, according to Myers. That's different from the 2015 virus, which was a Eurasian version. This new "homegrown" strain was first found in the highly pathogenic form on a large turkey farm in Dubois County, Indiana on Friday. Around 60,000 birds were immediately depopulated at the site.
"One of the lessons learned from 2015 outbreak is that we need to depopulate rather quickly to keep the virus spreading to additional farms," Myers says.
Several countries which import American poultry have already restricted access, according to Myers. South Korea has banned any poultry from the U.S. to enter its borders.
"The good news is that Mexico, Canada and Japan have agreed to only restrict birds from the state of Indiana," Myers says. "Going forward, we can work with those countries to restrict birds at the county level."
The European Union is only restricting birds grown in Dubois County.
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3. US deploys newly minted bird flu plan to protect humans, poultry
Thomson Reuters
Tom Polansek & Julie Steenhuysen, Thomson Reuters
AOL.com
January 18, 2016
CHICAGO (Reuters) -- U.S. farm and health officials are racing to assess the threat that a type of bird flu never before seen in the country poses to humans and poultry, employing emergency plans drawn up in the wake of a devastating outbreak in birds last year.
The federal government sprang into action on Friday after confirmation overnight that the virus had hit an Indiana turkey farm, alerting other states to the danger and putting workers who might have been exposed to the virus under surveillance.
Even if the response is fast, the government's ability to contain the disease is far from certain. Officials have never dealt with this strain before, and wild birds are thought to spread the disease to farms through feces dropped from the air, making infections difficult to prevent.
U.S. officials have taken to heart lessons from last year's outbreak, when USDA workers could not always kill infected flocks fast enough to contain the virus. Workers are now trying to cull sick flocks within 24 hours of diagnoses, following a goal the agency set in the autumn.
Most turkeys at the infected farm were killed within a day, but it was 29 hours before all were dead, said Denise Derrer, spokeswoman for the Indiana State Board of Animal Health.
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4. Frigid air slows efforts to euthanize turkeys in Indiana
Associated Press
Toledo Blade
January 18, 2016
INDIANAPOLIS - Frigid temperatures are hampering efforts to euthanize turkeys at several southwestern Indiana farms where a strain of bird flu was found last week, freezing the hoses used to spread a foam that suffocates the affected flocks, a spokesman for a state agency said today.
The H7N8 virus was discovered on 10 turkey farms in Dubois County, which is Indiana's top poultry-producing county, last week.
Temperatures that dipped into the teens and single digits over the weekend stymied efforts to fill the affected poultry barns with the foam to a level just above the turkeys' heads to suffocate them, said Denise Derrer of the Indiana State Board of Animal Health.
"The water's been freezing up. It's slowing things down, but we're doing the best we can," she said.
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5. Second CWD-positive deer found in Oneida County [WI]
By Paul A. Smith
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
January 18, 2016
A second CWD-positive deer has been reported at an Oneida County shooting preserve, according to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
The 5-year-old buck was shot at Three Lakes Trophy Ranch LLC in Three Lakes. The agency received the CWD-positive report on the animal Dec. 29.
A 3-year-old buck at the facility also tested positive for the disease in November, initiating a baiting and feeding ban in Oneida, Forest and Vilas counties.
Officials with DATCP said Friday there was no plan to depopulate the facility since "none of the deer are removed alive and all are tested as they leave."
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6. State delays CWD plans [WY]
By Mike Koshmrl, Jackson Hole Daily
Jackson Hole News & Guide
January 16, 2016
Instead of cementing their plans for managing chronic wasting disease at a Cheyenne meeting this month, state wildlife managers are pushing the pause button.
Wyoming Game and Fish officials announced this week that they will release a second draft of the Chronic Wasting Disease Management Plan, then reopen public comment.
"Public comments that Game and Fish received after putting out that first draft were comprehensive and high-quality," Game and Fish statewide spokesman Renny MacKay said. "There was just a lot for us to consider.
"This is a big plan for a significant issue for the state of Wyoming - that is, chronic wasting disease," he said. "We wanted to do this process right."
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7. Officials: Animal health lab upgrades would protect industry [SD]
Kevin Burbach, Associated Press
Argus Leader
January 17, 2016
Due in part to the avian influenza virus that led to the death of millions of turkeys and chickens across the country last summer, South Dakota is laying the groundwork to upgrade its only animal health laboratory, a move that veterinary officials say is crucial in helping the state's big agriculture industry weather future outbreaks.
Veterinary and agriculture officials say though the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory in Brookings responded quickly and effectively to the bird flu - even helping labs in Minnesota and Iowa - the nearly 50-year-old facility lacks the space and design to handle new outbreaks and the security measures to effectively protect researchers.
"I think there was a little shock and awe across the livestock industry (following the outbreak) about how susceptible we've become in this modern world to these really deadly pathogens," said Barry Dunn, the dean of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences at South Dakota State University, where the lab is located.
The university has been studying how to best update and expand the lab and is working with an architecture and design firm to estimate the costs of renovations that would emphasize capacity, safety and modernization. Gov. Dennis Daugaard has included over $1.5 million in his 2016 budget proposal that would cover the costs of continuing the study.
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