TrendAs avian flu spreads world-wide, U.S. gearing for increased bird testing

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture temporarily closed two of Philadelphia’s five live-bird markets last year after mild strains of the avian flu virus were detected during routine inspections. Those strains were different from the lethal H5N1 strain, and posed no threat to humans, the agency said. As the deadly H5N1 strain moves through Europe and parts of the Middle East and Africa, however, federal and state agriculture officials are becoming increasingly worried. They have increased avian flu testing at live-bird markets in twenty-one states, including Pennsylvania, New York, California, Texas, and Florida. This heightened surveillance is occurring as the United States prepares, beginning in April, to increase avian flu testing of wild birds which are making their seasonal migration through Alaska after wintering in Asia.

The $53 billion U.S. chicken industry also began a self-funded effort to test all commercial chicken flocks for avian flu before the birds are sent for processing. Industry officials hope that these early detection efforts will help avert an H5N1 outbreak, which could devastate the nation’s health and economy. The virus is on the move worldwide, spreading to fourteen additional countries in February: Iraq, Niger, Nigeria, Italy, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Greece, Egypt, India, Azerbaijan, and France. It has so far killed millions of birds and more than ninety people worldwide. H5N1 is spread from bird to bird and, more rarely, from bird to human. Health specialists fear that it will eventually mutate to a form which passes easily from human to human and cause a worldwide pandemic.

U.S. chicken sales have not been affected by the flu scare, but a recent survey by the Harvard School of Public Health suggested that 46 percent of people would stop eating chicken if bird flu hits the American poultry industry. These concerns have sparked the industry’s nationwide testing program, which began in January. So far, 94 percent of the commercial farms that raise chickens for large companies such as Tyson and Perdue are participating. Those farms account for nearly all the chicken sold in the United States.