Bird flu found in Canada farm
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The Canadian chickens appear to have a less deadly strain of the disease.
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) -- Bird flu has been discovered on a chicken farm in British Columbia, but officials have quickly dismissed fears that the disease could spread to humans.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) was still conducting laboratory tests on the disease, but officials said it had been identified at the H7 strain of avian influenza, the same type of strain found recently in Delaware in the United States.
Gilles Dulac, a CFIA veterinarian and virologist, said it appeared the disease spread to the broiler chicken farm from wild birds, "which is a normal, frequent reservoir for this disease."
"There is no link with importation from the United States," Dulac said.
According to the CFIA's Web site, the H7 strain has not been linked to illnesses in humans, and is not the same strain at the center of an outbreak in Asia that has been linked to the deaths of 22 people in Vietnam and Thailand.
"Historically, H7 has never been involved in serious human diseases," said Dulac. "It's not infectious to humans."
The agencies are testing to confirm if disease is a low or highly pathogenic version of the virus, but officials said it appeared it is of the low pathogenic version.
The farm near Abbotsford in southwestern British Columbia has been quarantined to keep the disease from spreading, and about 16,000 birds will be "depopulated within the next few days," officials said.
Investigators will also test farms that shared feed trucks and other supplies with the infected operation, as well as other farms within a 5-kilometer (3-mile) radius of the farm.
British Columbia is the third largest poultry producer in Canada, with a total flock of more than 4 million birds, federal statistics show.
Farm groups said they were monitoring the situation.
"The industry is extremely concerned: we're worried about it," said Lisa Bishop, spokeswoman for Chicken Farmers of Canada.
Farmers fear taking a heavy financial impact if consumers stop eating chicken, or if the disease spreads among farms and more birds have to be killed, she said.
"Consumers need to know that if they cook their product properly, there is no risk," Bishop said.
Egg farmers were less concerned because the disease was found on a broiler chicken breeding operation, and there are no laying hen barns nearby, said Tim Lambert, executive director of the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
