Calls for the use of vaccination, better bio-security and a much more robust response to outbreaks of avian influenza were made at an international conference on AI.
The International Conference on Avian Influenza and Poultry Trade (ICAIPT) has just taken place in Baltimore in the United States – ironically at a time when the US has been hit by an AI epidemic, which has wiped out 43 million hens and seven million turkeys across more than 20 different states. The outbreak has led to a shortage of eggs, soaring prices and desperate attempts to source replacement eggs from other parts of the world. The conference had been arranged long before the outbreaks started, but the problems in America coloured much of the discussion.
Robert Gooch, director of policy with the British Free Range Egg producers’ Association (BFREPA), who attended the conference, said that US delegates conceded that bio-security in America was relatively poor compared with some other countries. Large units close together resulted in AI quickly spreading once it had struck. Dr Carol Cardona of the University of Minnesota told delegates that bio-security had not been good enough. Robert said that American authorities would now be looking seriously at measures to improve bio-security.
He said that the United States also intended to invest in improved surveillance and it was ramping up its defences against AI for the future. The current outbreaks are the biggest animal disease issue the US has ever faced. The cost to the US Government so far has been $600 million; the cost to the egg industry has been much more. Robert said that the US was planning for a “worst case scenario” this autumn, assuming outbreaks in every state. It was currently recruiting new staff and training them, and stockpiling vaccine, although there was some opposition to its use.
Robert said that there was support at the conference for the use of vaccination. However, the broiler industry, in particular, in the United States, was opposed to vaccination because of its possible impact on trade. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has so far ruled out the use of vaccination because it says some major trading partners had said they would ban US imports until they could complete a risk assessment. The USDA says this could cost the country billions of dollars in lost sales. The USDA has also raised questions about the effectiveness of current vaccines. However, delegates at the conference felt that vaccination could be an effective tool against AI, said Robert. Vaccination is allowed in the European Union and the European Commission is planning to encourage greater use of it.
He said there was also talk of working on genetic resistance to avian influenza through global research programmes.
Robert said there had been a presentation by a Dutch delegate, Dr Christianne Bruschke, in which she had explained the robust measures used in the Netherlands to deal with AI outbreaks. All birds were immediately housed for at least 72 hours when an outbreak occurred. “This was interesting because this is what we have been pressing for in this country,” said Robert. “The Dutch shut everything down very quickly whilst they deal with an outbreak,” said Robert, who said that even Schiphol Airport was closed during one recent outbreak.
Culling and disinfection were carried out within 24 hours of an outbreak. Robert said that the Dutch were able to act far more quickly than was possible in the UK or the United States. “One thing they do is whole house gassing, which enables them to cull birds very quickly. In the UK and the US we use containerised gassing, which takes much longer. There was a great deal of interest in the way AI outbreaks are dealt with in the Netherlands and it is certainly something I will be speaking about with members of the BFREPA council,” said Robert.
One of the topics covered at the conference was the impact of outbreaks on trade. Robert said that American delegates, in particular, were voicing the view that an outbreak of bird flu in one part of a country should not shut down trade in the whole of the country. He said that the Americans pointed to the guidelines of the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health), which recommended that trade restrictions should be confined to zones in which an outbreak had occurred. It is suspected that states often impose country-wide bans on trade for economic advantage. Dr Brian Evans of the OIE told delegates, “Some governments believe that international trade is an undeclared war and disease outbreaks are the weapon of choice.” Robert said that any ban on trade as a result of AI was supposed to lifted three months after secondary cleaning had taken place, although this did not always happen.
As well as confining trade restrictions to zones there was also support for compartmentalisation. This allows trade to continue in some sub-populations of birds following an outbreak of bird flu. Robert aid that breeder companies had set up a compartment in the UK.
Delegates at the conference heard that since 2012 a total of 41 countries had reported outbreaks of high risk AI. The concern was that the virus was now in “all wild waterfowl flyways” around the world. The consensus is that commercial flocks are infected by wild birds, but Robert said that the expert view was that, once the first infection had occurred, it was then spread to other units by human contact. Robert said the spread was not from backyard or free range flocks to housed birds, but was thought to be exclusively the result of human activity because of poor bio-security.
The International Egg Commission has announced the launch of an Avian Influenza Action Plan, which comprises a series of initiatives aimed at tackling avian influenza. It is intended to provide support for the egg industry and to “co-ordinate a series of actions internationally with the ultimate long term goal of ridding the egg industry of this destructive disease.” Part of the plan is the creation of an Avian Influenza Task Force.
