Poultry
surveillance
(Continued from Page At)
Baggott said that letters were
sent to area poultrymen to explain
the program and ask for their
assistance. While the program is
voluntary, Baggott stressed that
its success depends on farmer
cooperation.
Farmers are asked to collect any
birds which died of apparently
normal causes and place them in
plastic bags. The bags are to be
placed at the end of driveways or
farm lanes to be picked up by task
force personnel.
By picking up the dead birds this
way, little or ho contact will be
made with the poultry flocks,
Baggott said. This will help assure
that healthy flocks are not exposed
to the virus.
The birds will be taken to a lab at
William Penn Way off Route 30 in
Lancaster County. There, task
force personnel will process the
birds and send samples to the mam
USDA lab in Ames, lowa, for
testing. No lab analysis will be
performed at the Lancaster lab,
Baggott said.
While providing early detection
of the avian flu virus, the sur
veillance program will establish
healthy flocks and help determine
when to lift areas from the
quarantine. The program will also
help those who issue permits,
Baggott added.
The new program does not
replace “sick call” reports and
producers who notice unusual
symptoms in their flocks should
call 717-569-3259.
Poultry producers in the
quarantine zone who have not
received information about the
poultry watch program are asked
to call task force headquarters at
717-295-1800. Those that have
received information but do not
have a telephone where they can
be reached should also contact
task force officials.
In other matters, USDA officials
are still considering the
eradication of all birds with the H 5
strain of the avian virus, but no
decision has been made yet.
Earlier this month, poultry in
dustry representatives met with
USDA officials in Washington to
further discuss the Technical
Advisory Committee’s recom
mendation to depopulate all flocks
diagnosed with the H 5 type flu.
The recommendation received the
support of the industry
representatives, said Tim Allwein,
Pa. Poultry Federation
spokesman.
Although industry leaders
agreed to support the recom
mendation, the Pa. Poultry
Federation (PPF) said that it can
support this decision provided that
flock owners are given a fair
market value for birds killed,
Allwein said. PPF stressed that
fair market values are needed if
the state poultry industry is to
survive.
In an update on the avian flu
situation, 251 flocks were
diagnosed with the highly
pathogenic virus as of Thursday.
This includes 9.9 million birds. A
total of 248 flocks, representing
9.89 million birds, have been
depopulated. The three remaining
flocks were scheduled to be
depopluated Friday.
A breakdown of the number of
avian flu flocks per county is:
Lancaster, 233 flocks; Lebanon,
seven flocks; York, five flocks;
Chester, four flocks; Berks, one
flock; and New Jersey, one flock.
This includes 113 layer flocks, 56
broiler flocks, 19 pullet flocks, 16
layer-breeder flocks, 14 broiler
breeder flocks; four turkey flocks
GETTYSBURG - When an
outbreak of highly pathogenic
avian flu hit a turkey flock near the
York-Adams County border about
a month ago, task force personnel
saw a need for a satellite office in
Gettysburg.
The office was established after
a turkey flock near East Berlin
was diagnosed with the “hot”
avian flu virus. Almost im
mediately after the virus was
confirmed, the growing quarantine
area was shifted west to include
Adams County.
“We’ve had an outbreak of the
virus near the county line,” said
Dr Richard White, a coordinator
of the satellite office, “now we
want to know if there are more
(infected flocks) in the area.”
According to White, a swine
epidemiologist from Penn State,
the office will issue permits for the
shipment of birds within the 5,100
square mile quarantine zone The
office will also conduct diagnostic
testing of area poultry flocks
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Satellite office
The former offices of the
Cumberland Valley Savings and
Loan Association, 9 Chambersburg
St, were converted for use by the
task force. About 20 staff mem
bers will be based in Gettysburg
initially. White said. The staff will
primarily investigate Adams,
Franklin and York County poultry
operations
“We are trying to determine if
the virus is here The only way we
can do that is to test eggs from
suppliers, birds that are
slaughtered or birds that die.”
White said
“If we get a positive reaction, we
will go to the farm and run a
diagnostic and epidemiological
investigation. If we want to
maintain this area in the
quarantine zone, we have to prove
it is here.”
White said that he could not
estimate when or if the quarantine
zone will be lifted from Adams
County Nor could he say how long
the satellite office will remain in
operation. It all depends on the
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results of the surveillance system,
ii°said
‘ \nyway we can get a hold of
birds for surveillance purposes, we
are going to use them. Once we
compile the information, we will
pass it up the command chain,
because that is how we can get the
quaratme lifted,” White said
Poultry is the third leading
agricultural business in Adams
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County White said he was sur
prised by the poultry traffic in that
area
“We are getting extremely good
cooperation from local farmers,”
White said. “We are getting a
great deal of work done, but it will
be some time before the operation
runs smoothly,”
White added that area poultry
farmers are afraid that the virus
Will spread and ravage their
flocks Farmers are keeping to
themselves as much as possible.
White said a meeting of county
extension agents and a separate
meeting with the executive board
of the county poultry associations
are planned.
“We are not trying to get all of
the poultrymen together,” he said
“We intend to leave the executive
boards disseminate the in
formation The less traffic we
have the better off we will be ”
The Gettysburg satellite office is
open from 7 a.m to 5 p.m., Monday
through Saturday. Farmers can
use one of two numbers to obtain
information on diagnostic testing
and permit processing- 717-334-
7514 and 800-223-8939, a toll-free
exchange