Avian Influenza

I’ve recently been experience deja vu (all over again) as we receive weekly updates from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture for the current HPAI epidemic striking the midwest.  It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was part of the crisis management team getting daily updates and testing birds prior to movement in hopes of quelling the effect in Pennsylvania.  Friends lost birds, all worried what it meant to the future and the government was publishing the potential effects of human contraction of the disease.  The came swine flu, the poultry industry weathered the storm, our biosecurity got better, we learned and we all lived to fight another day.

I’m in the midwest this week – not in poultry but my heart remains in the industry – and Iowa just announced positive tests in a large laying hen operation.  Long term the industry will come through this, we’re a resilient bunch, but the pain we endure to get their.

Kudos to WoodTV8 for the following article.  It sums up the current state very well.

http://woodtv.com/2015/04/21/bird-flu-takes-biggest-toll-yet-as-virus-hits-chicken-farms/