Mild version of avian flu has already hit Connecticut

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Mild version of avian flu has already hit Connecticut

October 30, 2005

 

HARTFORD, Conn. --Mild versions of the avian virus have appeared off and on in the United States for years, including a strain that infected thousands of laying hens at the largest egg farm in Connecticut two years ago.

 

The 4.7 million birds at Kofkoff Egg Farm in Lebanon and Bozrah faced slaughter in 2003 when the virus sickened thousands of them. It was a less virulent type than the disease now in Asia and Europe and there was no mass die-off.

 

Instead, the state took the unprecedented step of vaccinating the flock under a $16 million pilot program paid for by the state and federal governments. It cost far less than the $30 million the farm would have paid for destroying the flock. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's standing order for dealing with avian influenza calls for "depopulation" of the infected flocks.

 

"This is the way the USDA always handled these situations," said Mary Jane Lis, a veterinarian at the state Department of Agriculture. "But this time around, the farmer, the Kofkoffs, presented a case for using a vaccine as a way of saving as many of their birds as possible."

 

About 100,000 of the farm's egg-laying chickens were too sick to recover and, to contain the virus, were incinerated. The farm lost the value of the eggs and of the chickens, which typically are slaughtered once they stop laying and used for soup or processed chicken product.

 

"But that didn't or couldn't happen here because of the avian flu," Lis said.

 

The bulk of the vaccinated chickens survived, but the virus cost Kofkoff $90 million in revenue, shutting down two of its locations for more than a year, the Connecticut Post reported Sunday. It also prompted Kofkoff to heighten its biosecurity so epidemiologists and veterinarians can more quickly trace and track the virus.

 

The Kofkoff case illustrates what might happen to the nation's chicken industry if a more virulent form of avian influenza hits the United States. Dr. Mazher Khan of the University of Connecticut's pathobiology lab and his staff routinely test birds from farms and backyard flocks throughout Connecticut and New England. They also inspect markets where shoppers can buy a live bird straight from the butcher.

 

When Khan and his students visit live-bird markets in New England, he said, "we have to depend on the markets and the butchers to be honest and tell us where they've gotten their birds from."

 

Inside the UConn pathobiology lab, Khan and doctoral students are developing a rapid-response field diagnostic test that farmers can use to detect avian influenza. Early detection improves the odds of containing or eradicating the virus before it can spread to other birds or people, Khan said.

 

UConn's work is part of a three-year federally funded grant, headed by the University of Maryland at College Park, to produce a genetically engineered avian flu vaccine.

 

John Guilherme, owner of A&J Live Poultry in Bridgeport, said live-bird markets have dealt with the threat of avian flu for years.

 

"This is a very clean place even if it does smell like chickens," he said.

 

State agriculture inspectors regularly examine Guilherme's chickens and the butcher inspects them before accepting any delivery.

 

"If a single one had watery eyes, they'd all go back," he said.

 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/co..._connecti cut/