Bird Flu suspected in Kentucky Poultry Farm

http://article.wn.com/view/2009/04/04/Bird_Flu_Found_On_Western_KY_Poultry_Farm/?section=TopStories&template=cheetah-photo-search%2Findex.txt





BIRD FLU FOUND ON WESTERN KENTUCKY POULTRY FARM

updated 3:12 p.m. ET April 4, 2009 FRANKFORT, KY - State and federal authorities are investigating a finding of suspected non-pathogenic or low-pathogenic avian influenza in a single broiler/breeder poultry farm in western Kentucky. The strain poses minimal risk to human health and is not the high-pathogenic strain associated with human and poultry deaths in other countries. State...

FRANKFORT, KY - State and federal authorities are investigating a finding of suspected non-pathogenic or low-pathogenic avian influenza in a single broiler/breeder poultry farm in western Kentucky. The strain poses minimal risk to human health and is not the high-pathogenic strain associated with human and poultry deaths in other countries.

State Veterinarian Robert C. Stout has quarantined the farm, which produces hatching eggs for Perdue Farms Inc. Perdue plans to depopulate 20,000 chickens in two houses on the farm.

"The state and federal government and Perdue are acting aggressively to contain and eliminate the disease," Dr. Stout said. "There is no evidence that any infected poultry are in the human food supply as a result of this infection. We will do what is necessary to minimize the disruption to overseas trade."

My apologies, but I thought this was more widely known than is evident.  The KY influenza was an H7N9 by serological (antibody) testing.  Since no virus has been isolated to date, no further characterization is available since those further characterizations require virus isolation.  This is not an uncommon occurrence in LPAI infections - generally by the time the drop in egg production has occurred, the virus is quite difficult to isolate.  Further samples from the depopulated flock may yield an isolate that can be characterized, but that may take 1-2 weeks.  Surveillance of the backyard flocks in the area may be more fruitful.

The situation is quite similar to the recent breaks in BC where virus isolation was quite difficult.

Regards,

Mary08 wrote: .http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1001:53103::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1010,76966 Archive Number 20090408.1361 Published Date 08-APR-2009 Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza (LPAI), poultry - USA (02): (KY), H7N9 AVIAN INFLUENZA (LPAI), POULTRY - USA (02): (KENTUCKY), H7N9 ************************************************************ A ProMED-mail post <http://www.promedmail.org> ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases <http://www.isid.org> Date: 9 Apr 2009 Source: OIE WAHID [edited] <http://www.oie.int/wahis/public.php?page=single_report&pop=1&reportid=7979> Low pathogenic avian influenza (poultry), United States of America Causal agent Low pathogenic avian influenza virus Serotype H7N9 Nature of diagnosis Laboratory (advanced) This event pertains to a defined zone within the country New outbreaks Outbreak 1 - Grayson County, Grayson County, Kentucky Date of start of the outbreak 31 Mar 2009 Outbreak status Continuing (or date resolved not provided) Epidemiological unit Farm   ........................................

Low path can mutate to high path in 6-9 months and has done so quite a number of times in the past.  Texas in 2004 - was one of the most extreme examples of this which resulted in a boycott of Texas poultry.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Mallards+and+highly+pathogenic+avian+influenza+ancestral+viruses,+...-a0137545844

The classic line - low path has become a euphemism for now we can lift the ban and sell the poultry.

actually the discovery of low path in the poultry is not safe nor does it ensure it will not mutate and go high path and H7 is a high mutator.

Outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenzaavian influenza: see influenza.
..... Click the link for more information. (HPAI HPAI Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
HPAI Hospital Pharmacists Association, Ireland
HPAI Hewlett Packard Associates International ), which originate in poultry upon transmission of low pathogenic viruses from wild birds, have occurred relatively frequently in the last decade. During our ongoing surveillance studies in wild birds, we isolated several influenza A influenza A
n.
Influenza caused by infection with a strain of influenza virus type A.

---

influenza A Infectious disease An avian virus, especially of ducks–which in China live near the pig reservoir and 'vector';  viruses of hemagglutinin subtype (programming) subtype - If S is a subtype of T then an expression of type S may be used anywhere that one of type T can and an implicit type conversion will be applied to convert it to type T.  H5 and H7 that contain various neuraminidas subtypes. For each of the recorded H5 and H7 HPAI outbreaks in Europe since 1997, our collection contained closely related virus isolates recovered from wild birds, as determined by sequencing and phylogenetic

comment: as has been posted for years the typing of low path is not an all clear - and frequently this is not followed up.

Also birds are usually destroyed without actually counting or testing all the birds to get a rate of infection - contaminated meat in Michigan was incinerated or disappeared after multiple crates at been shipped to hundreds of restaurants and other food suppliers in the U.S. before the state was even notified or consulted.

Low path can become high path in 6-9 months.

Note: here is a classic historical case from our data archives and also still posted on the net-

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1001:7912949317273855823::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,33555

Archive Number	20060713.1926
Published Date	13-JUL-2006
Subject	PRO/AH> Avian influenza, poultry vs migratory birds (31)

AVIAN INFLUENZA, POULTRY VS MIGRATORY BIRDS (31)
****************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

[1]
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006
From: David G Sweet <dsweet@tcfbank.com>
Source: Free Press, 12 Jul 2006 [edited]
<http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=3D/20060712/NEWS05/6071204=20>

alternate link: http://tinyurl.com/dzvsud

State and federal authorities are trying to track down a cache of frozen 
poultry smuggled into the United States and metro Detroit from areas in 
China where avian flu is prevalent, state officials said Tues [11 Jul 2006].

They said consumers probably have eaten some of the meat and should be 
concerned but not alarmed. Proper cooking destroys the deadly virus.

The frozen poultry -- geese, ducks and chickens with intestines still 
intact -- was purchased by the owner of a warehouse in Troy, which supplies 
300 Chinese restaurants and Asian grocery stories throughout southeast 
Michigan, state authorities said. They said the owner has disappeared and 
is facing possible criminal charges.

Federal officials, who could not be reached for comment, learned of the 
problem in early June and alerted state officials around 22 Jun 2006, 
Michigan Department of Agriculture officials said.

They said they didn't know whether any carcasses were contaminated with the 
virus, which has killed 129 people worldwide since 2003.

Federal officials apparently destroyed birds seized from the warehouse 27 
Jun 2006 before the meat could be tested, prompting Michigan officials to 
complain.

On 5 and 6 Jul 2006, state and federal officials seized 1600 pounds of meat 
from the warehouse. It too was destroyed without testing, prompting 
requests from some state officials that all future meat seizures be tested. 
It was unclear why agents made 2 seizures at the property.

Although the virus, which lives in the birds' intestines, can survive 
indefinitely in frozen poultry, it is killed when meat is thoroughly 
cooked. Food preparation surfaces and utensils should be disinfected with 
soap or bleach and hands should be washed to prevent the spread of any virus.

"We are treating it seriously and looking to see where the material might 
have gone," said Brad Deacon, emergency management coordinator for the 
state Agriculture Department.

Deacon said the state obtained a list of the company's customers and is 
sending inspectors to each one to collect paperwork and seize potentially 
tainted poultry. "Hopefully it will test negative and we can reassure the 
public that the food supply is safe and the public health is protected," 
Deacon said.

Chinese-grown poultry is banned in the United States because of fear it 
could spread diseases.

"One of the reasons we haven't been public is because it's the USDA's 
investigation," Deacon said, referring to the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture. "The delicate balance of food safety is trying to let people 
know about threats and risks without unduly scaring them."

Deacon said federal officials told him that the owner of the warehouse has 
disappeared.

comment: There are many documented incidents in the Avian Flu story in the United States. 
This is one of the more interesting ones. 

Medclinician

MamaBear4 wrote: I understand that Avian is killed if chicken is properly cooked but, do you personally eat chicken with all the info you have?

Easter Rant - Happy Joy Joy Easter People - save this one until tomorrow

Not as much. Knowing the health department here and the tales of outbreaks in buffet restaurants where food and many things sit out and many people get sick. The only problem is that, as in my writing stuff (Addicted to a Poison) - we are surrounded by a world of toxins.
(time to exit post for all the Happy Easter people)

In the history of the world we once had many many species in the last 300,000,000 years. There have been 5 waves of extinction, the last being the dinosaur about 60,000,000 and it is said we are currently in the 6th. By the end of the century, thanks to the presence of humankind, we will loose 20-30% of the animal species in the next 100 years. The worse viral presence on the planet is the human one, and with our abuse, manufacturing,and  lethal presence we are destroying the earth.

I think, in some very twilight zone way that the coming Pandemics are nature's way of fighting back. If something does not reduce the human population by a huge amount in the next 20 years, we may destroy life on earth as we know it- and add our species to the fossil collection with no living life form of the species homo sapiens.

My first published article was in a magazine when I was in college, a story called Oceania. It predicted 40 years ago- that by these times our environment would be nearly unlivable. What it did not predict was that food producers such as Tyson and the massive food base which hundreds, thousands of brands mix with ours,  we import from China which is the mainstay  of many of what lines our grocery shelves, has rat poison in the dog food, and should one go on- a chemical feast. 

As Howard Hughes or Monk- If I were to live in accordance with what I know, I would walk around with a micron filter mask, gloves, and eat only food grown hydroponically in my own greenhouse with a technique we invented using specific wave lengths of light and misted nutrients below a screen and grows corn in several weeks. I would live a hermetic existence, avoid child care centers and schools like the plague- since that is where the Pandemic will spread like wild fire on a hot dry field (Suzanne Vega) and in one other song of hers...

99.9 Fahrenheit degrees
Stable now, with rising possibilities
It could be normal but it isn't quite
Could make you want to stay awake at night

You seem to me
Like a man
0n the verge of burning
99.9 Fahrenheit degrees

Pale as a candle
And your face is hot
And if I touch you
I might get what you've got

In Los Angeles, I spoke to the "Doctor of the Stars and he told me a person moving into the LA area (Hollywood) or any large city is subject to exposure of HUNDREDS of viruses. Over the course of decades in addition to what drifts to us each year in a brand new form from Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, or Australia - an medical person know we spend a lot of our time ill. The average nurse gets hundreds of diseases over decades and eventually either builds a fortress of an immune system antibody titer or dies.

The hamburger you eat at Mac Donald's contains meat often from 18-24 countries. Most red meat, is chronically contaminated with listeria, pasteurization is no longer effective so most milk is tainted, and one out of five people in the U.S. have IBS- and live closet lives of intestinal unhappiness.

The cover up - and there it is the C word of the degradation of our food, air, and water supply is incredible. The effect upon us in terms of chronic illness and a host of conditions caused by this is beyond comprehension. An infant in Europe by 6 months old, has at least 200 toxic pesticides and poisons in their bloodstream with measurable titers.

There is probably not a spot on earth you can stand that the air is pure anymore- and we move offshore- and now other countries with poor emission standards who will not quit poisoning our air and water, daily (and considering where I am- I speak with first hand knowledge) crank out tons of filth into the air.

Thousands of treatment plants bypass treating sewage or use illegally high amounts of really toxic chemicals to keep the bacteria count down which is incredibly high.

So, could one live in a glass bubble. Most of us are too poor to eat the pristine Life Extension diet. We have families and must buy packaged food and 10% juice and hot dogs mixed with turkey.

So now suddenly people are allergic to peanut butter. The clue is not all ingredients of food are listed. And years ago they began to radiate the milk and many food without having any idea of the residual radiation left in the food. They refused to label foods which are irradiated. And MSG- the burster of taste buds and a true toxic chemical inhabits much of our food as food company lobbyists block legislation to get it out. And norovirus mutates and spreads, we continue to hear the haunting refrain of salmonella.

Since this is a book long rant maybe some you can read it in ATAP - which I will put up someday- if you read Fast Food Nation which the head of .gov refused to read for years- we are not in Kansas anymore.

Those of us, the Baby Boomers and hippies of the 60s who later became millionaires and scientists and corporate CEOs- are a long way from that yummy pure beef hamburger, milk free from Strontium 90 before Chernoybl- and such.

President Obama is trying to give the EPA some muscle- but they are running into some fairly entrenched power which can bribe judges, and through lobbyists stop the clean up of America and it used to be USDA inspected meant bacteria fee.

Now we are told we must cook our meat a long time (the girl from Jack in the Box who got H107 E Coli which permanently damaged her and is now in pretty much organ failure) and the Avian and other bacteria will die and it will be safe to eat.  Can you spell "we live in a world of microwave ovens which do everything but cook our food thoroughly" I can put my little XXX Mexican feast into the hummer and while eating (after adding a minute for safety and a rotating plate to ensure penetration) find a cold spot.

Obviously- as I munch into part of a piggy ear or terrorized chicken bred in bright lites and snipped and mutilated, their they are. My mother's food was always too hot to eat. I had to wait for it to cool. People don't like to wait for things to cool.

What about Sushi eaters and those who like raw Macrobiotic food. Sprinkle sulfites and other things on it to make those veggies shine in the supermarket, and living once in a house where the water was mucousy yellow slime coming out of our pipes when we lived in the farm valley in Hollister, California. Most of the bugs could bathe in it and feel refreshed. We couldn't.

The nightmare life of the we the carnivores who had we the acual task of daily killing what we eat, could not do it. Yet as little as a hundred years ago, many would kill and slaughter their own beef and actually it and milk were far superior to make it red color spray on the meat which hides its off brown interior where it has hung in meat treatment places for weeks.

At 60, my lower whatever has paid price of civilization. Despite vitamins, trying to eat purer foods... I, as many, are addicted to a poison(s) - our air, food, and water supply which are basically toxic.

Add the spectrum of drugs we are given which most often are worse than the disease in side effects and actual make the condition worse, and it is a wonder we live so long.

The Pandemics (3 waves and probably a large number of non-survivors) will actually be a favor to the earth. And true to form, we have created pathogens that exceed the most dramatic fiction films which can take someone down in hours.

Ironically, getting in your car and pulling in traffic, is probably one of the most dangerous activities, far more than the society which refuses to police or protect people from things like hiding MSG in food by renaming it with over 100 names so a person will just not know when after his little TV dinner his stomach gives a little surge and he thinks.. you know I felt a lot better before I ate.

It is likely that most of the poultry in the U.S. is infected with some strain of Avian. In the tests that were sent to Ames and Madison labs, they would not do a comprehensive test for all forms of Avian- not just the old H5N1 which actually is in its 3rd or 4th Clade- and the vaccines they develop aren't even for the strains of Avian sweeping through Egypt. Avian Flu is endogenous in the birds in Egypt. When the real deal comes we won't have a vaccine. We will need to isolate the virus and hopefully it won't be to frisky like HIV. In which case no vaccine would be possible. There are some people who are immune to HIV. There will be some immune to the Pandemic- like little fruit flies or the lab rats the tread water and struggle up the greasy ramp and survive. Some of you will survive. Even the meanest nastiest, 99 point whater disease.

So time to go. Little Skye is running around and the air is filled with the smell of delicious turkey (even though its Easter.) This turkey was a bargain. $16 for a $30-$40 dollar enormous bird.

Does my mother in law wonder why it was so cheap?

Can I boycott the family Easter stuff out and save myself an evening of gastronomic unhappiness? Surely not.

One can hope for immunity. And one can think, however bizarrely, is Avian nature's way of telling us somethings wrong in a song (Nature's Way - Rock group Spirit)

Skye sits with happy little eyes, his blue plastic fork and spoon ready and a true innocent.
Like some tribe in the Amazon, we studied in Anthropology being given their first puff of a cigarettes and a big candy bar.  Maybe someday we will get that ranch in upper state New York and grow our own food, have our own power, and I will stop eating meat (used to be just fish- thanks mercury for ruining my Tuna) and become a veg head.

Nothing is quite as sure as change. Just like fire and rain, the earth and society has a way of purging itself.

Preppers - there is a new time coming when things will be truly different. Many will perish, and as bitter sweet as that is, it will be a rebirth of not only the economy but it may save the planet.

Truth is a two-edged sword. It is painful, but to solve the problems we have in the world, we must know who is responsible for them.

So, someday when you are munching on your provisions, rereading some magazine or maybe other material (hopeful look) bear in mind- there are no accidents in a perfect world and that the change that is coming- and it is huge- will break the stalemate of the way things have been for decades.

Viruses are getting a whole lot smarter. Can they think?  Well, they can communicate in some way to bacteria and they can act together (Pack Theory MC)

Day by day. Happy Turkey Day - because we still have them and the birds which are one of the greatest gifts that greet each morning with singing and add color to our otherwise grey world.

Medclinician

I have been lurking on this site for many years.  So appreciate all that I have learned, especially from you Med.  I was well on my way to prepping when we had a large obstacle thrown our way..... my husband was diagnosed with Celiac.  For those of you not familiar, it is a gluten intolerance.  So.... I donated nearly all my preps to the Salvation Army and started over.  Very expensive to prep in gluten free items.  Lucky there is just two of us.