A deadly variant of the three-year outbreak of bird flu has found its way to Sampson County.
High Path Avian Influenza, which has been spreading across the country, hit two central Sampson County flocks earlier this week. The two cases were confirmed on Jan. 27, and late on Jan 28 by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Veterinary Diagnostic Lab in Raleigh and the USDA APHIS National Veterinary Services Lab in Ames, Iowa.
While the virus has already impacted 140 million commercial birds since the start of the outbreak, Dr. Michael Martin, N.C. State veterinarian and director of the veterinary division of the N.C. Dept of Agriculture, stressed that the location of the affected farms in Sampson County do not directly influence where the bird flu will hit next, and transmission from birds to people is quite low.
“We are three years into this outbreak,” Martin said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.” There have been over 1,000 outbreaks on farms. This particular outbreak in Sampson County is a new variant of the strain that has been plaguing the nation, called D1.1, which originated from the Pacific Northwest, and has been spreading from there.”
Martin noted that D-1.1 has been spreading from wild, migratory birds and tracked in through a wild bird or, though less common, from someone who has had contact with an infected wild bird and then accidentally come in contact with other poultry, infecting it.
“If you look at the last 30 days alone, 32 states have had infections in over 100 domestic flocks.”
How was it discovered
in Sampson County
Martin said Sampson’s infection came from an unnamed farm that recently experienced an unexpected increase in mortality, causing the farm to send samples to the state veterinary diagnostic lab in Raleigh.
“There’s not a lot of clinical signs other than death,” Martin explained. “It moves quickly, so when you see that, farmers get worried and they reach out to us, and we get diagnostic samples and test them to find out why.”
Martin said two farms in Sampson County have been infected, but as far as any connection from one farm spreading to another, there is no evidence of that. He reiterated that the infections were most likely from migratory wildlife which is infecting the commercial birds, and he stressed there was no direct connection to the positive test from the farm in Hyde County.
“The reason these farms are becoming infected is from the migratory wild birds; it doesn’t matter where these farm are located. The key here is to be knowledgeable that this virus is in our migratory birds right now.” he explained.
When even a few in a flock of commercial birds test positive, drastic measures have to be taken to contain the spread.
“It’s a horrible virus; it’ll kill the birds, so in order to minimize the stress and the spread to other farms we have to depopulate these flocks to prevent more problems,” Martin added.
Margaret Ross, eastern area poultry agent for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, said smaller poultry farms will reach out when they have unexpected “mortality and/or morbidity among their flocks. However, commercial flocks typically have weekly contact from company personnel that relay any and all health concerns to management and company veterinarians who work with NCDA&CS on reportable diseases.”
Ross stressed the importance of practicing good biosecrutiy to try to keep the risk of infection low.
“The area specialized poultry agents work together to provide educational resources to commercial and backyard poultry producers on ways everyone can work together to practice good biosecurity,” noted Ross. “Biosecurity practices include actions that help to lower the spread of disease. These steps include proper hand washing, wearing a dedicated pair of boots and clothing for working with your flocks, and not visiting friends and family who also have flocks, etc.
“We have an online HPAI resources page that contains more information on biosecurity, as well as information on recent outbreaks and press releases from NCDACS (North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) that we publicize,” she continued. “We also field questions and encourage backyard flock owners to utilize the diagnostic laboratory system and veterinarians who will see poultry when needed. NC State Extension is strictly educational but we work closely with the NCDACS.”
Risk of infection
to humans
The risk is low, the veterinarian said. Out of the 1,000 farms hit by the virus, and the 140 million commercial birds affected,Martin said there have been less than six dozen confirmed cases of transmission from bird to human, caused, he added, from close contact to a bird.
“People are going to see a lot of information out there predicting what the human impact will be from this, and about 67 people have gotten sick from this form across the county, and most of those are working in close contact with infected flocks.”
Mild respiratory symptoms are one signal that person is infected, but this does not normally spread from person to person, Martin stressed again, adding that the Center for Disease Control considers this a very low risk for human health concerns.
He also wanted to assure people that their food is safe.
‘There’s a lot of work that the FDA and USDA put into to making sure food is safe — your food is safe, and this is a very, very low risk of human infection. Mostly you would have to work with the animals on the farm and come in very close contact with the infected animals in the flock.”
Martin said he knows Sampson residents are weary of an outbreak, but he assured there are steps to take to prevent possible infection, however low the possibility might be.
“The risk is low (to people), however I suggest staying away from contact with dead birds ,and wash your hands and report any dead birds (of any kind) that are found.”
The N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission has a hotline that people can call to report any dead birds, commercial or wildlife.
“We just want to reiterate this is a low risk concern, but still keep a safe distance,” Martin reiterated.