Vet: Local bird flu outbreak would be costly

An outbreak of avian influenza would be financially devastating in poultry-dense Mercer County, a local veterinarian said.

The virus has cost Midwestern turkey and chicken producers more than 13 million birds since early March and several new cases were announced this week in Iowa and Minnesota.

But area ag officials are doing everything they can to keep the current strain of the virus away from their chicken and turkey flocks.

"We are watching it extremely closely," said Tim Barman, veterinarian for Cooper Farms, which has millions of turkeys and egg-laying chickens in Mercer and surrounding counties. "There is no treatment or vaccine at this time. We're tightening down movement of people, equipment and animal movement. Bio-security is the thing we really stress."

The H5N2 strain, carried in the droppings of wild waterfowl such as ducks, geese and shorebirds, is deadly to domesticated poultry.

No human case of the illness has been reported in the U.S. and chicken, turkeys and eggs are safe to consume, Barman stressed.

Though the virus has not been detected in any wild or domestic birds in Ohio, everyone is still on high alert, he said. Iowa is the nearest state to face the virus.

"Everybody is extremely nervous," Barman said of local poultry farmers he's talked to. "You just think what could happen to the economy of this area. It would be a horrendous economic hardship and logistic hardship."

Mercer County typically ranks first in Ohio for agriculture income for poultry, followed by Darke County, he added.

Barman said company officials have been working with contract growers to beef up biosecurity, the best weapon against the virus.

"Where you are, where you've been and where you are going. That is a state of mind with bio-security," he said.

Barman said company officials contact growers weekly to educate them on flock behavior that might indicate illness and encourage them to call with any questions.

Farm ponds are a concern, Barman said, as they could attract wild fowl that could be carrying the virus.

In the event of an outbreak, a one-eighth of a mile area around an infected farm would be quarantined, meaning nothing can move off that farm, Barman said. Residents with non-infected farms within the quarantine area would need to meet stringent biosecurity testing and permitting requirements before moving anything off the farm, he said.

The survival rate for infected poultry is very low, Barman said, with turkeys being more susceptible than chickens. Infected birds that survive are euthanized to control the spread of the virus, he said. The illness can kill nearly an entire flock within 48 hours,

The head of the Ohio Poultry Association said avian influenza is the industry's highest priority right now.

"It is the No. 1 concern of everyone right now from the farmer to our association to the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Animal Industry Division and USDA," said Jim Chakeres, Ohio Poultry Association executive vice president. "We are working in constant contact with them on this and all of our flocks are on high alert and have been moved to higher levels of biosecurity."

Poultry farmers across Ohio are worried, he said.

"All of us are extremely worried," he said. "If it is indeed tracking through the flyways of migratory birds which overlap in Ohio. The farms that have been affected west of us have heightened biosecurity in place and it is still a very quickly moving virus."

Chakeres said the association partners with the USDA and ODA on a testing program designed to detect the virus. Flocks also are monitored several times a day, he said.

Ohio ranks second in the United States in egg production and ninth in turkey production. The Ohio poultry industry, including meat and eggs from chickens and turkeys, is valued at $1 billion.

Avian influenza is caused by an influenza type A virus which can infect poultry such as chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, domestic ducks, geese and guinea fowl.

- The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Correction:

The quarantine area around a farm infected with avian influenza is 1.8 miles, not 1/8 of a mile. The error was made in reporting.