Industry News - PM

Tenn. confirms second case of avian influenza


By Meatingplace Editors on 3/10/2017

Tennessee’s state veterinarian said a chicken flock at a commercial breeding operation tested positive for avian influenza, but the low pathogenic strain differs from the recent finding of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in an adjacent county. 

Officials do not believe one facility sickened the other, the state’s department of agriculture said.

The operator of the Giles County facility where the low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) was confirmed is a different company from the one associated with an outbreak of HPAI in Lincoln County announced earlier this week, they said.

The Giles County operator was not identified. The Lincoln County farm was earlier identified as a supplier to Tyson Foods.

The Giles County flock was depopulated as a precaution and the facility is under quarantine, along with all domesticated poultry within a 6.2-mile radius, and no affected animals entered the food supply, Tennessee’s agriculture department said.

Domesticated chickens and turkeys infected with LPAI may show little sign of illness, but HPAI is often fatal for domesticated poultry.

Both the LPAI and HPAI viruses found in Tennessee are an H7N9 strain. USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) has said the H7N9 virus found in Lincoln County is of North American wild bird lineage and genetically different from the H7N9 virus affecting Asia.

The NVSL on March 4 also confirmed the finding of LPAI in a turkey flock owned by Jennie-O Turkey Store in Wisconsin, Jennie-O said in a statement. The strain is an H5N2 virus of North American wild bird lineage.

The company stressed that LPAI is common in North America.

Neither LPAI nor HPAI pose a risk to the food supply, Tennessee’s agriculture department said, stressing the risk of a person becoming ill with avian influenza during poultry outbreaks is very low.

Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are now restricting products as well.

In 2015, HPAI outbreaks resulted in the deaths of more than 48 million U.S. chickens and turkeys, according to USDA estimates.


 
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