Avian Flu In Abbotsford, Chilliwack – UPDATE

CKNW is reporting on their Twitter feed that two farms in Abbotsford and Chilliwack are under quarantine after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed H5 avian influenza outbreak. According to the report the birds had to be euthanized.

The Vancouver Sun is reporting the CFIA will be doing further testing.

[excerpt] The agency has placed the two farms under quarantine to control the spread of disease.

Further testing by the CFIA is underway to confirm the severity of illness and to determine the strain of the virus.

Results are expected within days.

All birds on the infected premises will be euthanized, officials said, and the province will help with required carcass disposal.
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UPDATE: 12/2/2014 15;35
Vancouver Sun reports:
[excerpt] As many as 18,000 chickens and turkeys are either dead or will be destroyed after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed cases of avian influenza at two Fraser Valley farms.

“At one farm, there were originally 11,000 birds and over half have died from the disease,” B.C.’s chief veterinary officer Jane Pritchard said in a conference call Tuesday afternoon. Health officials reported earlier the presence of H5 avian flu had been detected at a turkey farm in Abbotsford and a broiler breeder farm in Chilliwack.
[source]

Avian Influenza

Poultrywiki/Avian_influenza”>From Wikipedia – Known informally as avian flu or bird flu — refers to “influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds.”The version with the greatest concern is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

“Bird flu” is a phrase similar to “swine flu,” “dog flu,” “horse flu,” or “human flu” in that it refers to an illness caused by any of many different strains of influenza viruses that have adapted to a specific host. All known viruses that cause influenza in birds belong to the species influenza A virus. All subtypes (but not all strains of all subtypes) of influenza A virus are adapted to birds, which is why for many purposes avian flu virus is the influenza A virus. (Note, however, that the “A” does not stand for “avian”).

Adaptation is not exclusive. Being adapted toward a particular species does not preclude adaptations, or partial adaptations, toward infecting different species. In this way, strains of influenza viruses are adapted to multiple species, though may be preferential toward a particular host. For example, viruses responsible for influenza pandemics are adapted to both humans and birds. Recent influenza research into the genes of the Spanish flu virus shows it to have genes adapted to both birds and humans, with more of its genes from birds than less deadly later pandemic strains.

While its most highly pathogenic strain (H5N1) had been spreading throughout Asia since 2003, avian influenza reached Europe in 2005, and the Middle East, as well as Africa, the following year.[8] On January 22, 2012, China reported its second human death due to bird flu in a month following other fatalities in Vietnam and Cambodia.[9] Companion birds in captivity and parrots are highly unlikely to contract the virus, and there has been no report of a companion bird with avian influenza since 2003. Pigeons do not contract or spread the virus. 84% of affected bird populations are composed of chicken and farm birds, while the 15% is madeup of wild birds according to capture-and-release operations in the 2000s, during the SARs pandemic. The first deadly Canadian case was confirmed on January 3, 2014.[13]On December 2, 2014, two turkey farms in British Columbia, Canada, had been placed under quarantine after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed Tuesday an avian flu outbreak

Avian Flu In The Fraser Valley

The Avian flu has a history in the Fraser Valley though the last two incidents pale in comparison to the crisis of 2004. While request for government bailouts to the industry were rejected some still criticize the industry for endangering itself by concentrating itself so much in such a small georgraphic area.

The industry has taken a number of measures to isolate farms from one another, keep workers or other visitors to farms from taking any disease which may be present with them and of intervening quickly in cases of outbreaks such as this one.

  • 2004 were slaughtered after a variant of avian flu with high capacity to cause and spread disease led to the slaughter of 17 million birds and left a lasting impact on the industry.
  • 2005 H5 avian flu was discovered in Yarrow and 60,000 birds were euthanized.
  • 2009 H5 avian flu was discovered on two Abbotsford farms resulting in the quarantine of 41 farms and the killing of 72,000 birds.

Watch this spaces for updates.

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