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Bird flu to blame for Petaluma farm having to destroy 57,000 ducks
A Sonoma County duck farm is being forced to destroy tens of thousands of ducks that have been or will be infected by a highly-contagious bird flu. The same farm was hit by the disease two years ago when infected migratory wild birds make contact with domesticated farm animals.
PETALUMA, Calif. - A Sonoma County duck farm is being forced to destroy tens of thousands of ducks that have been or will be infected by a highly-contagious bird flu. The same farm was hit by the disease two years ago when infected migratory wild birds made contact with domesticated farm animals.
As winter progresses, we're likely to see more of these bird flu infections as we have for many years. In California, this year so far, there have been two affected commercial flocks affecting 288,000 birds. The latest infection in rural Sonoma County west of Petaluma, the Reichardt Duck Farm is euthanizing 57,000 birds.
Microbiology Professor Axel Lehere, PhD of the University of Hawaii's Tropical Medicine Department, says such mass euthanizations act like fire breaks to stop a wildfire-like spread of the disease.
"It's a similar situation, but, of course, we know birds in bird farms live in very close quarters. It's just a standard practice that has to be done because these viruses spread so fast," said Professor Lehrer.
The bird flu can infect other commercial bird populations, including other farm animals, even pets, as migratory birds that can carry the virus move from space to space, spreading the disease. "These viruses are, at this stage, when they come from a bird, they're not really adapted to replicate well in humans," said the professor.
But some humans have been infected and some have died. Some scientists worry that with enough mutations, the virus might be able to spread from human to human, but no such infections have yet happened. "We're developing new vaccines against these H5 viruses. We're increasing our surveillance activities to be able to see the mutations that are needed to effectively transfer from human to human," said Professor Scott Hensley, a University of Pennsylvania Microbiologist.
The U.S. government has conditionally approved a specific avian flu vaccine for commercial poultry. Whether or not the USDA will approve the vaccine for flocks, depends on consumer acceptance as well as international trade, with some countries banning imports of vaccinated poultry and meats.
Other so-called factory farmers in the county are reluctant to talk about this since many factory-farm activists want them closed down.
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