- VANCOUVER -- An elementary
school in the Fraser Valley has been closed because of a suspected exposure
to avian influenza at a nearby duck and goose farm, provincial health officials
confirmed yesterday.
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- The 700 geese and 40,000 ducks on a farm next door to
King Traditional Elementary School are thought to be infected with an H5
strain of avian flu ñ the same virus that crossed the species barrier
from birds to humans in Asia earlier this year.
-
- But Dr. Perry Kendall, British Columbia's chief health
officer, said last night that there is no indication anyone at the school
has become ill.
-
- ìCalm down, don't worry,î Dr. Kendall said
when asked what his message would be to the parents of the approximately
500 children in the Kindergarten to Grade 5 school.
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- The avian flu outbreak that has wiped out the Fraser
Valley's poultry flocks has so far been the H7 strain of the virus, which
is deadly to chickens but which has not been known to be a grave threat
to humans.
-
- Asked what the health implications are of detecting an
H5 virus, Dr. Kendall said: ìWe don't really know. People are sensitive
(about) H5 because the H5N1 strain in Thailand and Viet Nam did prove capable
of crossing the species barrier and infecting humans, particularly children
who were in close contact with chickens. It had a fairly high mortality
in those kids.î
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- Dr. Kendall said the H5 diagnosis hasn't been confirmed
at this point, but is suspected.
-
- ìThese birds weren't ill. It's unlikely to be
that strain. But I think even if it was an H7 given the proximity and the
need to do a cull, you don't really need trucks mixing up with buses and
parents dropping kids off at school,î said Dr. Kendall.
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- He said the decision to close the school was made by
the chief medical officer for the Fraser Valley in consultation with the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which is culling about 19 million birds
in the Fraser Valley.
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- ìIt happens to be right next to the elementary
school,î Dr. Kendall said of the duck and goose farm. ì They
share a narrow entrance road. So when the local medical health officer
went out and looked at the proximity of the school and discussed it with
the CFIA vet on site they think it the best thing and the easiest thing
to expedite the cull and reduce any unpleasant psychological impact on
the kids by having a cull of 40,000 birds going on next door ... the school
will be closed until the depopulation is complete.î
-
- Robin Arden, Superintendent of School District No. 34
(Abbotsford) said the school will be closed until Monday.
-
- Dr. Cornelius Kiley, of the CFIA, said the closure is
being done out of caution.
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- ìThere does not appear to be disease in these
birds, but out tests indicate they may have been exposed to the H5 virus,î
he said.
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- Mr. Kiley said it is the first time H5 has been detected
in birds during the on-going cull, which is now about 80 per cent complete.
The avian flu outbreak began in late February, when the H7N3 strain raced
through a poultry farm near Abbotsford. It soon spread to other farms in
the area, leading to a decision to kill all poultry, ducks and geese in
the Fraser Valley in order to remove possible hosts for the virus.
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