Poultry Producers Should Be Vigilant on Bird Flu

It’s too early to know if the wild bird that was found to have a strain of avian influenza in Montana carried a highly pathogenic type, but it is sending warning signals across the poultry industry.

USDA Chief Veterinarian Dr. Jack Shere said any finding of avian influenza is scary.

“This is a virus that’s very hard to keep out of the population. What we generally see with these high-path viruses is there’s point-source introductions, usually from wildlife. Those point-source introductions are then spread because this is a silent disease at first and people spread it because they don’t know they have it.”

Two years ago highly pathogenic avian influenza forced the culling of nearly 50 million chickens and turkeys in the U.S.

Shere said what they have found of the strain from the bird in Montana is genomically similar to a highly pathogenic strain.

“The fact that this strain is being maintained in the wild bird population, maybe not at a high level, but that it’s out there tells us and tells our poultry producers, ‘You better be vigilant. You better be on your biosecurity. You better be looking out for this. And you better be watching your birds very carefully for any signs of sickness.’”

USDA is continuing to test wild birds for strains of avian influenza to help stem any outbreak.