2023-09-08 19:30:00
The number of poultry farms suffering from the avian flu virus which had to be culled has just exceeded that of last year and the migratory period is only just beginning, experts worry.
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The Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ) reports 24 slaughters of poultry infected with the avian flu virus, one more than in 2022.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reports 948,000 infected birds in Quebec (as of 1is September 2023) while Ontario and the Maritime Provinces combined have 86,000 fewer.
And the year isn’t over yet.
“It is certain that autumn is a critical season, because the wild birds which are the reservoirs of the virus begin their migration”, explains to the Journal veterinarian Isabelle Picard, MAPAQ spokesperson for this sector.
“When a flock is infected, mortality can be very high,” she points out, mentioning that several poultry can be found dead in a single night in a flock that was previously in excellent health.
There is then only one solution: slaughter all the birds and disinfect the farm.
The farms that had to cull their herds in 2023 are all in Montérégie except one in Estrie. Poultry are mainly chickens and laying hens, but there are also turkeys, ducks, quails and pheasants.
Courtesy
Preventative measures
Since the first documented case in April 2022, MAPAQ has implemented prevention measures which seem to be yielding results, since the last mass slaughter occurred last May. “We must be very careful in our movements within the farms,” recalls the Dre Picard. Not only change your boots and wash your hands, but remain vigilant with the machinery which often passes from one building to another without being disinfected.”
The Dre Picard acknowledges that new cases might arise by the end of the year due to migratory movements of wild birds. The droppings carry the virus and it is highly contagious. A tiny amount of this virus falling from the sky can be enough to infect an entire farm.
Threat of human pandemic
Isabelle Oligny, owner of Fermes d’Isabelle in Montérégie will not soon forget the carcasses of snow geese littering the banks of the Richelieu River last December. These were wild birds unable to fly south to their winter quarters. “It was sad to see,” she reports. These animals infected with avian flu, which is highly pathogenic, were able to contaminate wild or domestic birds.
In addition to snow geese, geese and gulls, among others, can carry the virus.
Canada is far from being alone in being confronted with this epizootic (animal pandemic) of the variant, which has spread in record time for two years on all continents, except Oceania and Antarctica.
What makes this variant more worrying than the others is that it has been found in more than 40 species of mammals, including in Quebec in seals and raccoons. “Because of this, the virus has the potential to mutate or reorganize itself to contaminate humans,” says Dr.r Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt, veterinarian and professor at the University of Montreal, who participated last May in Rome in an international meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on the subject.
The FAO refers in its report to a “potential threat” of a human pandemic.
The INSPQ recommends prevention measures for people in contact with wild or farmed birds.
- Outdoors, make sure you position yourself so that you always have the wind at your back.
- Indoors, ensure adequate ventilation at all times.
- Wash one’s hands
Faced with dead birds
- Wear disposable gloves.
- Use the inverted bag method when possible and if gloves are not available, use two plastic bags.
- Report the carcass by calling 1 877 346-6763.
Source: National Institute of Public Health
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