Two more Fraser Valley farms under quarantine due to avian flu: CFIA

UPDATE: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says two more broiler chicken farms have been put under quarantine due to suspicion of the avian flu.

The CFIA says the two new ‘suspect’ farms are located between the two originally infected farms in east Abbotsford and west Chilliwack.

Currently the CFIA is continuing their epidemiological tests on the farm to determine if the birds will need to be destroyed. The agency is encouraging other poultry farmers to report any symptoms.

The agency is not aware of any farm workers coming down with avian flu symptoms but says they will be offering a vaccine to all poultry workers; which is a practice that has been already in place for years.

In response to the avian flu outbreak at two poultry farms, Hong Kong has banned the import of poultry meat and products, including eggs, from the Fraser Valley. More than 7,000 tonnes of frozen poultry meat and 170,000 eggs were imported from Canada between January and October.

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A turkey farm in Abbotsford and a broiler breeder farm in Chilliwack have been placed under quarantine after the presence of H5 avian influenza was confirmed through preliminary testing.

Initial tests were conducted on Monday at a laboratory in Abbotsford after both farms experienced sudden deaths of birds over the weekend. Further testing is currently underway to determine the precise subtype and strain of the virus, and results are expected within days.

The turkey farm started to have an increase in dead birds near the end of last week and by Sunday had lost 60 per cent of their flock, says Dr. Jane Pritchard, chief veterinary officer with the BC Ministry of Agriculture.

“There was nothing that you could look at these birds post-mortem that looked abnormal… we were actually thinking something was in the feed but because the losses were catastrophic, we screen the birds for avian influenza,” Pritchard says. “We were expecting those to be negative and they came up positive. It was the high losses that allowed us to catch this.”

According to Pritchard, 18,000 birds will be humanely euthanized and composted at the barns. The Abbotsford farm had 11,000 birds but half had died of the disease and the Chilliwack farm had 1,000 of their 7,000 birds perish.

The names of the two affected businesses have not been disclosed but Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials did say the two farms had no direct connection and are approximately 8 km away from each other.

Pritchard says the turkeys would have been targetted for the upcoming Christmas market.

The agency says there will be an investigation into how the virus spread between barns — whether it was due to migratory patterns or personnel moving between the two affected areas.

The CFIA says the quarantine measure was taken to control disease spread and the industry sector has been notified to adopt enhanced bio-security practices.

The agency reassures avian influenza viruses do not pose risks to food safety when poultry and poultry products are properly handled and cooked.

The World Health Organization says humans can become ill when infected with viruses from animal sources, including avian influenza virus subtypes H5N1 and H9N2.

The primary risk factor for human infection appears to be direct or indirect exposure to infected live or dead animals or contaminated environments.

In January of this year, the first case of H5N1 bird flu in North America left an Alberta resident dead. The patient travelled to China in December 2013 and was admitted to hospital in Alberta on New Year’s Day. By Jan. 3, the patient died. It was the first case of H5N1 Canada has ever seen since the deadly influenza first surfaced over a decade ago.

READ MORE: Should Canadians be alarmed by H5N1 bird flu death? Docs say no