Dirty Birds

The Baltimore Sun reported yesterday that some 74,000 chickens were destroyed in Sussex county Delaware an effort to control the spread of avian flu. The discovery of infected birds in this second flock startled experts, and increased worries about the region's poultry industry.

A snippet:

The infected chickens were found on a farm in Sussex County that supplies birds to a large commercial processor. It is located about five miles from the Kent County farm where the virus was first detected late last week.

State Department of Agriculture officials said the outbreaks did not appear to be linked, but both farms and about 75 others around them will be quarantined and tested for up to a month. Farms with high rates of poultry mortality on the three-state Delmarva peninsula will also face increased testing, agricultural officials said.

Eleven countries, mostly in Asia, have banned imports of Delaware or U.S. poultry products as a precaution. Delmarva accounts for about 6 percent of American poultry exports.

Officials said they believe they can contain the avian flu to the two counties where the virus was found through quarantines, testing and disinfecting of trucks and equipment.

But anxiety is still reigning among farmers who do not know when they will be able to send their birds for processing.

"The dinner table conversation for a farmer tonight is about fear of losing his living," said Michael T. Scuse, Delaware's agriculture secretary. "We have people who have everything they own at stake. We can't emphasize enough how serious this is. This is very, very serious. We have a multibillion-dollar industry at stake."

Sussex is the largest broiler-producing county in the nation.

Both outbreaks involve a strain of the virus that is not considered a threat to humans who live nearby or purchase meat in grocery stores.

But extensive precautions are being taken across Delaware. Some 73,800 birds were destroyed yesterday, and meetings of farmers, sales and auctions of farm equipment, and sales of live poultry were ordered stopped.

Officials advised farmers to close off their farms to outsiders to prevent further spread of the avian flu, which is most often transmitted from bird to bird through mud and manure, and which can be tracked on shoes or vehicles. Birds also can transmit the virus to other birds through the air.

Quick action in this case can prevent the flu from mutating from what is thought to be a relatively mild strain into a more dangerous form that could seriously sicken birds or humans, health officials said.

The United States has had many avian flu outbreaks over the past several years, but none has ever killed a human, unlike the strain in Asia that has recently caused illness and death among people there.

Still, the local farmers are feeling the pressure.

William Messick, 69, whose 180-acre Kent County farm is in sight of the first case of avian flu, was among those whose birds have been tested and found to be clean. He has about 100,000 chickens that were supposed to be sent out for slaughter at Allen Family Foods Inc. last night and this morning, but that has been delayed until Friday. He hasn't left his farm since he got the news Saturday, not wanting to risk his livelihood.

Much more at link

I think it's wise that proper precautions are being taken. This is likely to be at the very least a regional tragedy. The untold story is that the once regarded safe U.S livestock industry is likely to come under the microscope.

With the halting of the USDA 'mad cow' probe, and the current round of avian flu damage as yet unknown, further bans of U.S poultry products are likely. This may be unwarranted by the actual data surrounding the strain(s) of avian flu found stateside, but fear usually trumps reason.

The economic fallout is likely to be devastating to the region at the very least, but just how deep and far the impact will reverberate is an unkown at this juncture.