With 100 million birds dead, the poultry industry could serve as an example as dairy farmers face bird flu

DES MOINES, Iowa – As the US dairy industry faces a bird flu outbreakwith cases reported in dozens of farms and the disease spreading to peopleThe egg industry could serve as an example of how to slow the disease, but it also shows how difficult it can be to eradicate the virus.

There have been previous outbreaks of bird flu in the US, but the current one began in February 2022 and forced the massacre of almost 100 million chickens and turkeys. Hotspots still occur, but their frequency has decreased in part due to biosecurity efforts on farms and a coordinated approach between companies and agricultural officials, experts say.

milk producers They could try to implement similar safeguards, but the stark differences between animals and industries limit the lessons that can be learned and applied.

It is commonly called bird flu because the disease is widely transmitted by wild birds that can survive infection. Many mammals have also contracted the disease, including sea lions and opossums.

Animals can become infected by eating an infected bird or by being exposed to environments where the virus is present. That said, there are big differences in how cows and chickens fared after being infected.

Bird flu is typically fatal to chickens and turkeys within days of infection, leading to immediate mass bird killings. This is not true for cows.

Dairies in several states have reported having to kill infected animals because symptoms continued to persist and milk production did not recover, but that is not the norm, said Russ Daly, an extension veterinarian at South Dakota State University.

He said it appears that bird flu is not generally fatal to cows, but that an infected animal may be more vulnerable to other diseases typically found in dairy products, such as bacterial pneumonia and udder infections.

Egg operators have become clean freaks.

To prevent the spread of disease, egg producers require workers to shower and wear clean clothing before entering the barn and to shower again when they leave. They also frequently wash trucks and spray tires with solutions to kill virus debris.

Many egg operations even use lasers and install special fences to discourage wild birds from paying a visit.

“The day of the scarecrow is long gone,” said Emily Metz, president of the American Egg Board.

Without these efforts, the current outbreak would be much worse, said Jada Thompson, a professor of agricultural management at the University of Arkansas. Still, maintaining such vigilance is difficult, even though the cost of allowing a disease into an operation is so high, she said.

Chickens raised for meat production, known as broilers, have also been infected with bird flu, but these cases are less common. In part, this is because broiler chickens are killed when they are just 6 to 8 weeks old, so they have less time to become infected.

Yes and no.

Dairies can certainly reduce the spread of disease by limiting access to barns so that people and equipment don’t bring the virus in from elsewhere. Workers can also wear eye protection, aprons and gloves to try to protect themselves, but there’s no way around it: big animals are messy.

“The room is a hot and humid place, with a lot of liquid flying, be it urine, feces, water, because they are splashing in the areas. Cows can turn on a milk machine and cause milk to splash,” said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Laboratory.

Dairies also do not have the time or staff to disinfect milking equipment between animals, so the equipment can become contaminated. Pasteurization kills bacteria and viruses in milk, making it safe for people to drink.

Poulsen said the dairy industry could follow the path set by the poultry and pork industries and establish more formal, better-funded research organizations to be able to respond more quickly to problems like bird flu — or avoid them altogether.

The dairy industry could also curb the spread of disease by limiting the movement of lactating cows between states, Poulsen said.

The US Department of Agriculture will soon begin testing a vaccine which could be fed to calves, offering protection to the animals and also reducing the chance of worker illnesses.

The egg industry also hopes that researchers can develop poultry vaccines that can be quick, cheap and effective. Workers cannot administer vaccines to the millions of chickens that may need a shot, but industry officials hope a vaccine can be distributed in the water the birds drink, in the pellets they eat or even before the birds leave the cages. eggs.

Efforts to develop vaccines have become even more important now that the disease has spread to dairy cows and even some people, Thompson said.

“Part of what’s being developed now is: How can we vaccinate them that is cost-effective and disease-resistant?” Thompson said.