CDC issues alert over bird flu cases
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- The CDC’s principal deputy director and other health experts have stressed the importance of wearing protective gear when culling poultry infected with avian influenza, or the bird flu virus.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says a lack of protective equipment when handling chickens at a Colorado egg farm may have contributed to five cases of bird flu among workers, but so far no human or livestock cases have been directly linked to handling animals infected with bird flu.
- Most culled birds are composted or buried, but some are sent to landfill.
The spread of avian influenza in poultry and dairy farms has heightened concerns among some health experts that the process of killing and disposing of virus-infected poultry could pose a risk to humans and livestock.
Recent examples of farms dumping carcasses in landfills and using chicken-killing methods to expose workers to the virus suggest that the process of eradicating infected birds could further spread the disease, according to data obtained by Reuters and interviews with officials and officials. disease.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said extreme heat that made it difficult to put on protective gear when chickens at a Colorado egg farm were suffocated by carbon dioxide may have contributed to five cases of avian influenza among workers, the largest cluster of human cases in the U.S. (CDC Center) and the Prevention Center said this week.
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Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on a conference call with reporters on Tuesday about the outbreak that the situation highlights the need for systematic use of protective gear when killing sick animals.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, said of the chicken-killing process that chicken-killing workers are at risk of inhaling the virus. The workers had mild symptoms, including pink eye and breathing problems.
“Depopulation activities need to have a clear focus on the protection of these people,” he said.
After five poultry farm workers in Colorado tested positive for the virus, the CDC and other health experts stressed the importance of workers using proactive equipment when handling animals infected with avian influenza. (Reuters/Mike Black)
To date, there have been no human or livestock cases directly related to the handling of animals infected with avian influenza.
Colorado bird flu cases
Over the past 2.5 years, avian influenza has spread to nearly every state in the United States. There have been nine cases among poultry and dairy workers since March, including poultry workers in Colorado.
CDC officials said further spread of avian influenza in livestock could increase the likelihood of human infection, although the risk to the public remains low.
U.S. Department of Agriculture data obtained by Reuters shows that as of the end of June, about 95 million chickens, turkeys and other poultry have been killed and disposed of since February 2022.
Bird flu is deadly to birds, and once the virus enters a farm, the government requires entire flocks to be culled. The worst year for deaths is 2022, but almost as many chickens have been disposed of so far in 2024 as in all of 2023, the data shows.
For example, sick workers in Colorado are killing birds in mobile gas chamber trucks, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service official Julie Gauthier said during a conference call Tuesday.
Gauthier said the carts typically hold 12 to 50 birds, and workers suffocate them batch by batch. A USDA spokesman said the agency has reviewed farms’ use of the method as part of its response to the outbreak.
AnneMarie Harper, communications director for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said more than 150 workers were exposed to infected poultry, and 69 developed symptoms and were tested, with five testing positive.
Most chickens died from suffocation, either in portable suffocation chambers like those used in Colorado, by spraying firefighting foam on the chickens, or by turning off ventilation in the chicken houses, according to USDA data.
A few were killed by firearms, cervical dislocations, or other means.
Handling animals infected with avian influenza
Most culled birds are either composted in chicken coops or farms or buried, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To compost birds, farmers cover them with materials such as wood chips, keep the compost pile at high temperatures, and occasionally stir them with farm equipment, a process that typically takes weeks.
Federal and state officials work with farmers to determine the best treatment methods, said John Clifford, a former chief veterinarian at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and now an adviser to the U.S. Poultry and Egg Export Council.
Myah Walker, director of compliance for the Minnesota Animal Health Council, said composting on site is safest to avoid moving carcasses and potentially spreading the virus.
In rare cases, bodies are transported to landfills, a process that can satisfy some federal and state regulations.
Michigan egg producer Herbruck’s poultry ranch disposed of nearly 2 million chickens in a private landfill between April 15 and June 8, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data and records of the state’s disposal process obtained by Reuters. .
Herbrook declined to comment.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that since 2022, only 3% of poultry has been thrown into landfills, and the Herbrook outbreak accounted for about two-thirds of that.
Shortly after the Herbrook disposal, a dairy farm near one of the landfills tested positive for avian influenza, alarming local farmers. Ottawa County Health Officer Adeline Hembley said that even so, whole-genome sequencing showed that the handling of Herbrook’s body did not lead to infection.
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Wild birds help spread viruses between poultry farms and between other species.
Minnesota veterinarian Brian Hoefs said he does not recommend disposing of dead poultry in landfills.
“That’s a scavenger’s restaurant. It’s a recipe for disaster,” he said.
