Avian influenza found in South Carolina

[Sydney65]

In addition to common vectors, they're now including the sparrows and rodents as spreaders. A short time ago they were primarily pointing at waterfowl. There are limits on chicken meat purchases here now,and empty shelves.

Lol- and now I see someone already said that. At some point in researching all of this, I read that migrating birds are vectors to most viruses, human & otherwise.

 

[AgnesGray]

In addition to common vectors, they're now including the sparrows and rodents as spreaders. A short time ago they were primarily pointing at waterfowl. There are limits on chicken meat purchases here now,and empty shelves.

That's interesting since 9 billion chickens a year are raised in the US for meat. The birds lost so far to AI that were destined to be meat, though unfortunate, are a drop in the bucket in relation to how many are produced overall.

 

[Sydney65]

A suggestion- consider the questions we have, meaning of non-poultry, what do they do when they find one infected wild bird- list questions in this thread thn we can send to [email protected] - the project manager for USDA APHIS

 

[Sydney65]

That's interesting since 9 billion chickens a year are raised in the US for meat. The birds lost so far to AI that were destined to be meat, though unfortunate, are a drop in the bucket in relation to how many are produced overall.

I think Tyson was already in the barrel d/t covid and some other infection in chickens. As usual, I don't remember what that infection was, just remember thinking of karma bc they didn't protect workers when covid kicked up.
Indiana cases have all been turkey farms in 2 counties, and one wild duck in one of the same counties. If bio-security is being followed and failing, one has to consider there's another source they're missing.

 

[Sonya9]

Our choosing to halt sales/incoming birds is simply to keep our farm as safe as possible, have practiced stringent biosecurity for years .... this is just an added precaution.

Sounds smart. Fact is if you sold chicks/birds to someone and then later they had an AI outbreak (from another source) you would likely be on the state's radar and get a visit which would put your flock in danger. The less documented contact we have with others the better.

There are probably plenty of chickens in backyard flocks that have antibodies from exposure yet never got sick. If the state tested them it would likely cause a problem.

 

[AgnesGray]

Sounds smart. Fact is if you sold chicks/birds to someone and then later they had an AI outbreak (from another source) you would likely be on the state's radar and get a visit which would put your flock in danger. The less documented contact we have with others the better.

There are probably plenty of chickens in backyard flocks that have antibodies from exposure yet never got sick. If the state tested them it would likely cause a problem.

I read something from a backyard flock keeper that two of her birds tested positive for antibodies but didn't have an active infection and it was not an issue for them. I was told that if they got Low Path, they would develop antibodies and likely survive. If they got High Path and had no antibodies from a previous Low Path infection, their chance of survival is very low.

I wonder if that is why layer chickens in Nigeria only have an 11% mortality rate from H5N1. Thanks to whomever shared that article... very interesting.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I think Tyson was already in the barrel d/t covid and some other infection in chickens. As usual, I don't remember what that infection was, just remember thinking of karma bc they didn't protect workers when covid kicked up.
Indiana cases have all been turkey farms in 2 counties, and one wild duck in one of the same counties. If bio-security is being followed and failing, one has to consider there's another source they're missing.

Part of Tyson's problem was selecting the wrong line of male birds last year, their fertility rates were down. Not so much that we backyard people would notice, but times millions of birds, it was affecting them - they had to ecure another line of males for their breeding.

I'm unaware of any specific disease problem (apart from COVID) they might have suffered in addition.

Processing the birds once full size was COVID related, and affected most everyone in the business.

 

[Sonya9]

I read something from a backyard flock keeper that two of her birds tested positive for antibodies but didn't have an active infection and it was not an issue for them. I was told that if they got Low Path, they would develop antibodies and likely survive. If they got High Path and had no antibodies from a previous Low Path infection, their chance of survival is very low.

I wonder if that is why layer chickens in Nigeria only have an 11% mortality rate from H5N1. Thanks to whomever shared that article... very interesting.

The CDC is the one claiming it has a 90-100% fatality rate. At this point I would not believe a single thing the CDC says about ANYTHING unless I found other independent sources to verify their claim. They have just "made stuff up" countless times then later admitted they knew it wasn't true all along. In the last 2 years their credibility has gone down to zero.

 

[AgnesGray]

If bio-security is being followed and failing, one has to consider there's another source they're missing.

Very true.... although, I do wonder about Iowa's much higher number of cases and if there is any correlation with the fact that they're upping the AI testing there to every 30 days or something in comparison with Ohio where testing has been suspended in order to avoid NPIP testers dragging it from farm to farm. May not be related, but I have wondered about that.

 

[AgnesGray]

The CDC is the one claiming it has a 90-100% infection rate. At this point I would not believe a single thing the CDC says about ANYTHING unless I found other independent sources to verify their claim. In the last 2 years they have proven themselves to be pathological liars.

It's not the infection rate that concerns me as much as the mortality rate. Direct from those who have had it, it's high pathogenic aka highly symptomatic leading to near-certain death.