PHILADELPHIA—A flock of 12,000 chickens in Delaware was destroyed yesterday
in a bid to prevent the spread of avian flu as state agriculture officials
hastened to say the virus differs from the one that has killed people in Asia.
The chickens on the southern Delaware farm were slaughtered after two birds tested positive for the virulent H7 virus Friday, said Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse.
"The virus that is in Asia is a mutation of H5," Scuse said, adding the H7 strain found in Delaware is fatal to poultry, but does not transmit to humans.
Scuse said he was "fairly confident" the virus had not spread.
As a safeguard, however, other flocks within a three-kilometre radius of the infected farm would be tested, and the outcome of that process would probably be known by Tuesday, he said.
If the virus is found in any of the other flocks, the testing area would be extended to eight kilometres, he said.
The carcasses of the flock will be composted at the farm, which has been quarantined, he said.
Poultry is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the Delmarva Peninsula where the infected farm is located, and is the mainstay of the local economy.
The region, between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, consists of parts of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
The farmer did not supply chickens to any commercial poultry company, said Anne Fitzgerald, a spokesperson for the Delaware Agriculture Department.
The Delaware case would not be the first time the H5 strain has hit the U.S. poultry sector.
An outbreak of a related strain in the northeastern United States in 1983 and 1984 forced more than 17 million birds to be destroyed.
That outbreak caused retail egg prices to soar more than 30 per cent.
Yesterday, South Korea, one of 10 countries hard hit by the virus, reacted swiftly to the reports in Delaware, immediately halting imports of U.S. poultry.
News of the U.S. outbreak came as Thailand announced it was close to containing an epidemic that has killed 18 people and decimated poultry stocks.
So far, Thailand, the world's fourth biggest chicken exporter, has slaughtered 26 million fowl.
Meanwhile, South Africa has posed a ban on imports of chickens from USA.
© Copyright 2003-2004 PakTribune
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=54042