CHICAGO (Reuters) – Bird flu has reached a new part of the world and has become endemic for the first time in some wild birds that transmit the virus to poultry, veterinarians and disease experts warn. I warn you that this year will be a year old. round problem.
Reuters spoke to more than 20 experts and farmers on four continents, saying the spread of the virus in the wild poses a growing threat to the world’s food supply as record outbreaks on poultry farms do not end any time soon. said to show They cautioned that farmers must view the disease as a serious risk year-round, rather than focusing their prevention efforts on the spring migration season of wild birds.
Since the arrival of strains genetically similar to European and Asian cases in the United States in early 2022, the virus outbreak has spread across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa, with extreme summer heat and winter It has not lost to the cold weather.
On Wednesday, Argentina and Uruguay each declared a national health emergency after authorities confirmed the country’s first infections. The virus was detected in wild birds in Argentina, and a dead swan in Uruguay tested positive.
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Egg prices hit a record high last year after tens of millions of laying hens died from the disease, and at a time when the global economy is reeling from high inflation, the world’s leading source of cheap protein has been cut short. has become unaffordable for some of the poorest countries in the world.
Wild birds are primarily responsible for spreading the virus, experts say. Waterfowl such as ducks can carry disease without dying and transmit it to poultry through contaminated faeces, saliva and other means.
Farmers’ best efforts to protect their flocks fall short.
In the United States, Rose Acre Farms, the nation’s second-largest egg producer, lost about 1.5 million chickens last year at its production site in Guthrie County, Iowa. Virus, CEO Marcus Last said.
The company’s farm in Weld County, Colorado, was hit twice in about six months, killing more than 3 million chickens, Rust said. He believes the wind blew the virus in from a nearby field where geese had defecate.
“It nailed me,” Last said. “You just pull the hair.”
The US, UK, France and Japan are among the countries that have suffered record poultry losses in the past year, leaving some farmers feeling helpless.
Shigeo Inaba, who raises chickens for meat in Ibaraki Prefecture near Tokyo, said, “Avian influenza is occurring even at a new poultry farm with modern equipment and no windows, so what we can do now is , we can only pray to God to avoid it from happening,” he said.
Northern hemisphere poultry were previously thought to be most at risk during the spring migration season, when wild birds are most active. Experts say spikes in virus levels in a wide range of waterfowl and other wild birds mean poultry face a high risk year-round.
“This is the new war,” said Brett Marsh, state veterinarian of Indiana, USA. “It’s basically 12 months of all-nighters.”
In a sign that the threat is expected to continue, Marsh is asking Indiana legislators for funding to hire additional poultry veterinarians and poultry health professionals. In the past year, according to US government data, he killed more than 200,000 turkeys and other birds in Indiana, and according to US government data, the total death toll in the United States exceeded his 58 million. , surpassing the 2015 record.
The virus is usually lethal to poultry, and a single positive test can cull an entire flock.
Vaccination is not a simple solution. Virus threats can be mitigated, but not eliminated, making their presence difficult to detect in a swarm. Still, Mexico and the EU are among the countries he is vaccinated or considering to be vaccinated.
global problem
Wild birds are spreading the disease around the world more than ever before and are likely carrying record amounts of the virus, said the Paris-based World Gregorio Torres, director of science at the Animal Health Agency, said. Authority on animal diseases. The virus has probably mutated from previous outbreaks into a more contagious form, he told Reuters.
“The disease will take hold, at least in the short term,” Torres said.
Torres could not confirm that the virus is endemic to wild birds around the world, but other experts said it is endemic to specific birds in places such as the United States.
The virus can infect people who normally come in contact with infected birds, but the World Health Organization says the risk to humans is low.
The circulating form of the virus infects a wider range of wild birds than previous versions, including those that don’t travel long distances, said David Dean, acting director of the U.S. government’s Southeastern Poultry Research Institute in Georgia. Suarez said.
Such “resident” bird infections are helping viruses that previously were not to persist year-round, he said.
The black vulture, which lives in the southern United States and previously escaped infection, is one of the species currently suffering, said David Stallknecht, director of the Southeastern Joint Wildlife Disease Research at the University of Georgia. says.
The virus also infects mammals such as foxes, bears and seals.
“We must all believe in miracles,” said Starknecht.
cross the border
Starknecht said high virus levels in long-distance-migrating birds such as green teals helped spread the virus to new parts of South America.
Countries such as Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia have reported their first cases in recent months.
Ecuador imposed a three-month animal health emergency on November 29, two days after the first case was detected, the country’s agriculture ministry said. More than 1.1 million birds have died so far, according to the ministry.
Infections in Uruguay and Bolivia have brought the disease closer to the world’s largest poultry exporter, Brazil, which has so far confirmed no cases. Brazil’s Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro said on Wednesday that the country had investigated three suspected cases, but the tests were negative.
“Everyone is focused on preventing the flu from reaching our country,” said Gian Carlos Zacchi, who raises chickens for processor Aurora in Chapeco, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Some experts suspect that climate change may be contributing to the global spread of the disease by altering wild bird habitats and migratory routes.
“As the dynamics of wild birds have changed, so have the viruses that live in wild birds,” said Carol Cardona, an avian flu expert and professor at the University of Minnesota.
Experts say farmers are trying unusual tactics to protect their poultry, with some even using machines that make loud noises to scare away wild birds.
In Rhode Island, Eli Berkowitz, an egg producer and chief executive of Little Rhodey Foods, disinfects goose droppings in farm walkways in case they contain the virus. He also limits visitors to his farm as a more traditional precaution.
Berkowitz said he believes the migration season in March and April will pose even greater risks to poultry.
“You should brace yourself and protect your precious life,” he said.
Reported by Tom Polansek of Chicago. Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo, Sybil de la Hamide in Paris, Ana Mano in São Paulo, Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires and Victor Borges in Brasilia.Edited by Caroline Stauffer and Claudia Parsons
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