- DOVER, Del. (AP) -- Delaware
state officials ordered the destruction of some 12,000 chickens today on
a farm that ships the birds to New York City after confirming the flock
has been infected by avian influenza.
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- "We don't want this to spread," Delaware Agriculture
Secretary Michael Scuse said at a hastily arranged news conference this
evening.
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- "We're trying to protect an industry that is very
important."
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- Scuse would not disclose the location of the infected
chicken houses or the identity of the grower, saying only it is an independent
operation in southern Kent County that sold to the live bird market in
New York.
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- "We don't want a lot of traffic around this location,"
he said.
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- Scuse said the strain of avian influenza is different
from the one that has spread to the human population in Asia and there
is no threat to human health.
-
- Nevertheless, the strain, known as H7, is one of the
most virulent types of the virus and has the potential to cause severe
economic damage if it spreads to the commercial broiler industry, a linchpin
of the region's agricultural economy.
-
- "We're trying to nip this thing in the bud,"
said William Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry
Inc., an industry trade group.
-
- Avian influenza is an airborne respiratory virus that
spreads easily among animals through nasal and eye secretions, as well
as manure.
-
- Satterfield advised commercial poultry growers in the
region not to allow visitors on their farms and chicken houses.
-
- "We just need the growers to be a bit more vigilant,"
he said.
-
- "If this gets into the commercial chicken industry,
we could have a severe situation."
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- The infected flock will be destroyed with carbon monoxide
and composted inside the two chicken houses were they have been raised.
Testing will begin Saturday morning of flocks on 12 commercial farms within
a three-kilometre radius, Scuse said.
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- Results of the testing should be known within hours,
said state veterinarian Wesley Towers.
-
- State officials learned of the problem Thursday after
the grower contacted a representative of Elanco Animal Health, in Salisbury,
Md. Elanco veterinarian Robert Evans and Mariano Salem of the University
of Delaware's poultry diagnostic lab visited the farm Thursday afternoon.
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- "We found a lot of morbidity," said Salem,
adding two samples tested positive for avian influenza Thursday afternoon.
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- Further testing today was followed by a meeting of the
DPI Emergency Poultry Disease Task Force.
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- "Less than 24 hours after we had run the samples,
a lot of decisions were made," Salem said.
-
- Towers said the New York live bird market has had a problem
with avian influenza for some time. Delaware agriculture officials speculate
the virus was carried to Delaware on unclean bird crates or perhaps chicken
manure on a person's shoes.
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- Towers said he visited the New York market with the Delaware
grower last fall to advise him about the precautions he needed to take.
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- "We tried to tell him that there was a problem up
there and that he ought to be careful," he said.
-
- "We tried to warn him."
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