Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm - Highly pathogenic H7N3

[ghostship]

WINNIPEG(Dow Jones)--The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or CFIA, has set a briefing regarding the quarantine of the Saskatchewan poultry farm for 1:00 p.m. EDT. It was originally scheduled for 12:00 p.m. EDT.
The CFIA confirmed they have quarantined the poultry farm as part of their Animal Disease Response.
According to Canadian Press sources, several vehicles from the CFIA were seen arriving at the large poultry farm, located five kilometres south of Regine Beach, Saskatchewan. The sources reported that all vehicles leaving the farm were having their tires washed down, while anyone walking on the farm was having their footwear sprayed down as well.
-By Alana Vannahme, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 204-947-1700; resnews@shawbiz.ca
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 27, 2007 12:08 ET (16:08 GMT)

[yielddude]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm Quarantined

Saskatchewan Avian Flu Type Not Dangerous To Humans-Govt SourceLast update: 9/27/2007 12:49:30 PM(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones NewswiresSeptember 27, 2007 12:49 ET (16:49 GMT)

[yielddude]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm Quarantined

Food inspection agency mum on chicken farm quarantine
The Canadian Press

September 27, 2007 at 12:23 PM EDT

REGINA ? The Canadian Food Inspection Agency isn't releasing any information immediately about precautions being taken at a Saskatchewan chicken farm.

Agency spokesmen told CTV Regina that further details would be released Thursday. The agency had scheduled a news conference for later in the day.

However, it appeared the large chicken farm north of Regina had been quarantined Wednesday.

Several vehicles from the CFIA descended on the operation and any vehicles leaving the farm were seen to be having their tires washed.

In addition, people walking in the area had their footwear sprayed down.

The farm in question is located about five kilometres south of Regina Beach.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070927.wquarant0927/BNStory/National/home

[yielddude]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm Quarantined

Chicken farm quarantined, CFIA investigating
Last Updated: Thursday, September 27, 2007 | 12:25 PM ET
CBC News
A large chicken farm near Regina has been put under quarantine while officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency investigate.

A number of tests have been conducted at Pedigree Poultry at Regina Beach over the last few days.

A source close to the farm's owner told CBC Radio that the situation is very serious.

CFIA confirmed Thursday it has had inspectors on site, in what it calls an "animal disease response."

The road to the farm was blocked off, about half a kilometre away, and an official in a car was making sure nobody tried to get through. The official told a CBC reporter anyone coming out would be disinfected.

Officials with the local rural municipality were issuing cautions to the public.

"I would advise people to just stay away from the area because if there is a disease issue, we don't need to have any of this spread about either our area, or any other area," said Jim Hipkins, reeve for the rural municipality of Lumsden.

CFIA is expected to give more details on its investigation later Thursday morning.

Vehicles leaving the farm Wednesday were seen having their tires washed. People walking in the area were also seen having their footwear sprayed down.

Regina Beach is about 55 kilometres northwest of Regina.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/09/27/chicken-farm.html

[ghostship]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm Quarantined

Saskatchewan Avian Influenza Strain H7N3, Highly Pathogenic

[yielddude]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm Quarantined

CORRECT: Saskatchewan Avian Influenza Strain H7N3, Not H7M3Last update: 9/27/2007 1:47:07 PM(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones NewswiresSeptember 27, 2007 13:47 ET (17:47 GMT)

Canada Govt: Same Strain Found In British Columbia In 2004Last update: 9/27/2007 1:47:51 PM(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones NewswiresSeptember 27, 2007 13:47 ET (17:47 GMT)

[Niko]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm Quarantined

Avian flu confirmed in Saskatchewan

Last Updated: Thursday, September 27, 2007 | 11:41 AM CT

CBC News


Avian influenza has been confirmed at a large chicken farm near Regina, officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday.

The strain found at Pedigree Poultry at Regina Beach is not dangerous to humans, the agency said.

A number of tests have been conducted at the farm at Regina Beach over the last few days and a source close to the farm's owner told CBC Radio the situation is very serious.

CFIA has had inspectors on site in what it was calling an "animal disease response."

The road to the farm was blocked off, about half a kilometre away, and an official in a car was making sure nobody tried to get through. The official told a CBC reporter anyone coming out would be disinfected.

Officials with the local rural municipality were issuing cautions to the public.

"I would advise people to just stay away from the area because if there is a disease issue, we don't need to have any of this spread about either our area, or any other area," said Jim Hipkins, reeve for the rural municipality of Lumsden.

CFIA is expected to give more details on its investigation later Thursday morning.

Vehicles leaving the farm Wednesday were seen having their tires washed. People walking in the area were also seen having their footwear sprayed down.

Regina Beach is about 55 kilometres northwest of Regina.

Health authorities are concerned about avian flu because of the way the virus can jump to other species, including humans. Some believe avian flu could someday cause a pandemic.

Around the world, 200 people have died of avian flu since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

An outbreak of one strain of avian flu on a poultry operation in British Columbia in 2004 saw two people infected, but they suffered only mild flu-like symptoms.

However, the poultry industry took a major blow when the disease forced the destruction of more than 17 million birds.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2007/09/27/chicken-farm.html

[Niko]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm Quarantined

From the Canadian Food Inspection Agency - press release

AVIAN INFLUENZA DETECTED IN SASKATCHEWAN

OTTAWA, September 27, 2007 – Highly pathogenic H7N3 avian influenza has been detected in a commercial poultry operation in Saskatchewan, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced today. This virus is not the same as the strain circulating in Asia, Africa and Europe, which has been associated with human illness. H7N3 is not normally associated with serious human illness.

Avian influenza viruses do not pose risks to food safety when poultry and poultry products are properly handled and cooked. In this case, the affected birds were not destined for immediate slaughter and were not producing eggs for human consumption.

All birds on the infected premises will be humanely euthanized and disposed of in accordance with provincial regulations and internationally accepted disease control guidelines. Normally, birds on any commercial operations within one kilometre of an infected premises would also be destroyed, but early information indicates that no such operations are present in the immediate area.

Once all birds have been removed, the CFIA will oversee the cleaning and disinfection of the barns, vehicles, equipment and tools to eliminate any infectious material that may remain.

To limit any potential virus spread, the CFIA will apply restrictions on the movement of poultry and poultry products within three kilometres of the infected premises. As an additional safeguard, any poultry operations within ten kilometres of the infected premises will be closely and regularly monitored for signs of illness.

The CFIA is investigating the recent movement of birds, bird products and equipment onto and off of the property. Through this activity, additional cases of infection may be detected.

The CFIA's actions are consistent with internationally recognized animal health guidelines and the CFIA’s established avian influenza response protocols.

It may be difficult to identify the source of the virus, but the possibility of exposure to wild waterfowl-which are the natural hosts for the virus-cannot be discounted. Poultry owners are urged to take an active role in protecting their flocks by keeping them away from wild birds and areas frequented by wild birds.

Under the Health of Animals Act, the CFIA has authority to compensate producers for animals ordered destroyed during disease responses. The producer might also be eligible for assistance under other Government of Canada or provincial programs.

The Province of Saskatchewan and industry are actively collaborating in this response effort. The CFIA wishes to acknowledge the responsible actions of the owner, who reported signs of illness at the earliest possible moment. This commitment to animal health protection has maximized the Agency’s ability to contain and eliminate this situation as quickly as possible.

New information emerging from the CFIA’s activities will be provided to the public as it becomes available.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/newcom/2007/20070927e.shtml

[Farmer]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm - Highly pathogenic H7N3

EID vol 10, no. 12 2004 reports human illness associated with the BC outbreak:

See whole dispatch at:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol10no12/04-0961.htm

Dispatch

Human Illness from Avian Influenza H7N3, British Columbia
S. Aleina Tweed,* Danuta M. Skowronski,* Samara T. David,? Andrew Larder,? Martin Petric,* Wayne Lees,? Yan Li,? Jacqueline Katz,# Mel Krajden,* Raymond Tellier,** Christine Halpert,? Martin Hirst,?? Caroline Astell?? David Lawrence,* and Annie Mak*
*British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; ?Health Canada Field Epidemiology Training Program, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; ?Fraser Health Authority, Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada; ?Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; ?National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; #Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; **Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and ??British Columbia Cancer Agency Genome Sciences Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Avian influenza that infects poultry in close proximity to humans is a concern because of its pandemic potential. In 2004, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza H7N3 occurred in poultry in British Columbia, Canada. Surveillance identified two persons with confirmed avian influenza infection. Symptoms included conjunctivitis and mild influenzalike illness....

[Mamabird]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm - Highly pathogenic H7N3

Although the Canadian press release accurately states that H7N3 does not pose a serious human health threat as compared to H5N1, it probably does pose a greater pandemic threat.

The H7 avian influenza virus has far more human characteristics associated with its genome than does H5, and is much more easily transmitted from poultry to humans. Just because it doesn't have a case fatality history does not mean that folks will not get sick and have to miss work. If H7 goes pandemic, we could possibly experience very high clinical infection rates that could be disruptive to our economies, even though relatively few lives are lost.

Just something to ponder as officials downplay this latest detection.

[cartski]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm - Highly pathogenic H7N3

From http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/agrifood/PedigreePoultry.pdf about a dispute in front of a agricultuarl board involving Pedigree Poultry Ltd. This is a description of the movement of chicks and eggs, which may be relevant to the outbreak.


SYNOPSIS OF THE BROILER HATCHING EGG INDUSTRY [
The Committee understands that day-old breeder chicks are obtained usually from a hatchery, who, as the eventual receiver of hatching eggs, selects the type of hen it wishes to propagate as the parent stock for the broiler chicken industry. In Saskatchewan ' s case, Lilydale Co-operative with its hatchery, located in Wynyard, is the principle distributor of day-old breeder chicks to hatching egg producers. The Committee understands that day-
old breeder chicks are raised to the pullet stage where, once again they may be relocated to specialized production facilities in order to go into production of fertilized hatching eggs. The Committee further understands that it is accepted industry practice to control the production of hatching eggs through the placement of breeder hens. At the age of 26 to 27 weeks, breeder hens enter their production stage and will produce around 140
hatching eggs before a significant drop in egg fertility. Lilydale also undertakes the pickup and transport of hatching eggs to its hatchery in Wynyard. At the hatchery, Lilydale incubates, hatches and distributes broiler chicks to broiler chicken production units across Saskatchewan

_________________

Job search for Pedigree Poultry Ltd............

Description
Job Number: 4924996 Posted: 04-SEP-2007

Job Title: Egg Collector
Location: Regina
Details: Job is located at Regina Beach. Daily transportation from a single pick up and drop off point in Regina is provided. Requirements: Agricultural background - preferably on a commercial poultry farm. Positive attitude. Willingness to learn. Duties: Egg collecting, counting and data recording. Clean and sanitize work stations and egg holding room. Clean and sanitize poultry equipment and housing. Periodic bird catching.


Employment Terms: Full Time
Wage/Salary: $9.50 to $9.90 per hour, depending on experience..
Vacancies: 6

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm - Highly pathogenic H7N3

Conclusion from study posted by Farmer:

Conclusions

We report the first known human avian influenza H7N3 infections. Although enhanced surveillance identified 57 persons meeting a suspected case definition, avian influenza infection was confirmed in only 2.

The two patients had conjunctivitis and mild, influenzalike illnesses, similar to symptoms reported from the Netherlands in association with another H7 subtype (H7N7) (9).

Neither confirmed case in British Columbia mounted a hemagglutination inhibition or serum neutralizing antibody response. This finding has been observed elsewhere in association with avian influenza infection (10,11). A possible explanation includes highly localized infection without induction of systemic antibody.

Mechanical trauma, irritation due to dust or airborne particulate matter, or an allergic cause of symptoms associated with viral contamination, rather than infection, is less likely given the delay to symptom onset, consistent with the incubation period for influenza.

Among suspected cases, respiratory rather than conjunctival symptoms predominated. Other pathogens were also detected among suspected case reports, a finding consistent with the relatively nonspecific case definition applied.

From February 6 to May 21, 2004, routine influenza surveillance activities in the Fraser Valley also identified human influenza A from nine persons and two long-term care facility outbreaks. Although no coinfections were identified, this human influenza activity increased concerns about potential mixture of avian influenza with human influenza strains.

Avian influenza H7 has caused human illness previously, most notably 89 confirmed human infections, including one death in the Netherlands in 2003 (9).

Based on the precedent set by the Netherlands in protecting exposed persons, British Columbia recommended comprehensive precautions for workers early in the outbreak. These precautions may have prevented further human infections.

The strain circulating in British Columbia may have been more limited in its ability to cause human illness. The genomic sequence of the avian viruses from the source farms of the two human isolates was consistent with HPAI, whereas one of the human isolates was consistent with LPAI.

The presence of an insertion sequence in the human LPAI isolate likely signifies that the virus in poultry mutated from HPAI to LPAI, and both were circulating among the birds on that source farm, the latter undetected. A less likely explanation is that mutation from HPAI to LPAI occurred in the human host.

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm - Highly pathogenic H7N3

Canada finds bird flu strain on western farm

27 Sep 2007 19:28:16 GMT

(Updates with USDA comment, background, details)

By Roberta Rampton

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Canadian veterinary officials said on Thursday they found the H7N3 strain of avian influenza on a Saskatchewan chicken farm, but noted the virus was not the deadly strain that scientists fear could cause the next flu pandemic.

"We are not dealing with the H5N1 virus that has been linked to human illness in Asia and other parts of the world," said Sandra Stephens, a veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The H7N3 strain is not normally associated with human illness, the CFIA said.

The finding had little impact on livestock and grain markets. Most Canadian poultry is produced for the domestic market, and Saskatchewan, known for its large expanses of grain fields, accounts for only a small fraction of the output.

"It is a mild strain. It doesn't appear to be a big deal," said Paul Aho, an industry consultant with Poultry Perspective.

Canada informed the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about the case, as well as the United States and European Union, which import some Canadian poultry products.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would ban shipments of poultry from Saskatchewan, although it has not imported poultry from the province since 2005.

"We will continue to monitor the situation closely," said John Clifford, the USDA's chief veterinarian.

The H7N3 strain is routinely found in a low-pathogenic form in wild ducks in North America, said Jim Clark, a senior official with the CFIA. The disease can quickly mutate into a high-pathogenic form in commercial poultry flocks, he said.

"There is a vast and total difference between an H5 and an H7 subtype," Clark said in an interview.

The CFIA quarantined the farm, located northwest of the provincial capital of Regina, and will destroy its flock of 45,000 chickens.

The agency will investigate to see if it can find the cause of the infection, and will test birds within 10 km (6 miles) of the farm, Clark said.

There is one other commercial poultry farm within that radius and several small backyard hobby flocks, Clark said.

Canada had its first major outbreak of bird flu in 2004 in British Columbia's densely populated Fraser Valley. About 16 million poultry were destroyed to limit its spread.

A smaller outbreak was also seen in British Columbia in 2005. Canada also found a nonvirulent strain of H5 bird flu in a small backyard poultry flock in the Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island in 2006.

Bird flu almost exclusively infects birds, but it can occasionally cross over to people who closely handle infected poultry.

Canada tested more than 12,000 migratory wild birds last year as part of ongoing surveillance for highly pathogenic strains of bird flu, but has not found the H5N1 strain that experts fear could mutate enough to spread easily between people, causing a pandemic.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27386578.htm

[HenryN]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm - Highly pathogenic H7N3

Canada finds bird flu strain on western farm

27 Sep 2007 19:28:16 GMT

(Updates with USDA comment, background, details)



A smaller outbreak was also seen in British Columbia in 2005. Canada also found a nonvirulent strain of H5 bird flu in a small backyard poultry flock in the Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island in 2006.


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27386578.htm

The spin continues. The H5 was in DEAD geese, There has been NO data published to remotely suggest that the H5 in the dead geese was not virulent.

[HenryN]

Re: Canadian Govt: Large Saskatchewan Chicken Farm - Highly pathogenic H7N3

Canada finds bird flu strain on western farm

27 Sep 2007 19:28:16 GMT

(Updates with USDA comment, background, details)

By Roberta Rampton

The H7N3 strain is routinely found in a low-pathogenic form in wild ducks in North America, said Jim Clark, a senior official with the CFIA. The disease can quickly mutate into a high-pathogenic form in commercial poultry flocks, he said.


http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27386578.htm

The 2005 Canadian survey of wild burds found ZERO H7 positives.

More foxes guarding the hen houses.