The Rural Voice, 2005-12, Page 52Advice
Flu frenzy fuels frustration for poultry expert
A poultry specialist with the
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Affairs has expressed
frustration at the amount of
misinformation about avian influenza
in the media.
"We face challenges with getting
our message out if we can't get the
attention of the media," said Al Dam,
speaking at a poultry producer update
meeting in Seaforth, November 3.
Among Dam's complaints: "Avian
influenza and pandemic are not
interchangeable," he said.
A survey of bird flu in the wild
duck population saw some media
outlets reporting that bird flu had
"arrived" in Canada.
"A mild form of the H5 virus has
been present in wild birds for years,"
he pointed out. The survey showed
under four per cent of the Quebec
birds tested had the flu, under one per
cent in Manitoba and 25 per cent in
British Columbia. Tests on Ontario's
samples have not been completed but
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48 THE RURAL VOICE
"we would expect positives," Dam
said.
The panic caused by the spread of
the H5N1 strain of avian influenza
from Asia to southeastern Europe has
caused a drop in consumption of
poultry products there. But those
humans'who have been infected by
bird flu are those who had close
contact with poultry. No one has ever
gotten sick from properly cooked
meat, Dam said.
Canada's commercial poultry
flocks are unlikely to be threatened
even if the deadly form of bird flu
did migrate to Canada through wild
bird populations. Canadian poultry
barns are sealed against the entry of
wild birds and there is no contact
between wild birds and feed or water
fcd to the chickens. There are only
four or five range turkey operations
left in Ontario with most turkeys also
raised in barns, isolated from wild
birds.
The tight biosecurity measures on
Ontario poultry farms are to protect
the birds, Dam said. "They are our
life, our investment, the reason we
get up in the morning."
"Ontario poultry products are the
safest in the world," he said.
In biosecurity protocols swine and
poultry don't mix, Dam said.
Humans can catch influenza from
both birds and pigs. Pigs, which are
more genetically close to humans,
could be the "mixing pot" for human,
poultry and swine viruses to mutate
into something that could affect
humans.
For the same reason, farmers
working around poultry (and swine,
too) are urged to get a flu shot. "We
don't want farmers to be having the
flu and birds to be having the flu and
the two strains intermixing," Dam
said.
Deaths that have occurred from the
H5N1 strain in Asia have always
been people who caught the disease
from close contact with birds, he
pointed out. There has never been a
vertical transmission of the disease
from hen to egg to chick and there
has never been a human -to -human
transfer which would be necessary to
touch off a pandemic.
"The pandemic may never
happen," Dam reminded the
audience.
If the H5N1 strain of avian
influenza did arrive in Canada the
biggest concern would be with
backyard flocks and with wild birds.
"Wild pigeons are a reservoir for a
lot of diseases," Dam said.
Since avian flu is most often
transmitted to people in close
proximity to birds another concern
would be companion birds, he said.0
OSCIA overhauls website
The Ontario Soil and Crop
Improvement Association (OSCIA)
has launched its new and improved
website www.ontariosoilcrop.org to
better serve its members and all other
farmers across the province. It
provides the farm organization's
members with updated and
reorganized information about the
various crop production activities,
investigations, demonstration
projects, and other opportunities the
association presents.
All producers will be able to easily
navigate to a superior program
section which features the
Environmental Farm Plan (EFP)
Workshop calendar schedule, and
detailed information associated with
the current environmental cost -share
opportunities.
The Ontario Soil and Crop
Improvement Association (OSCIA),
founded in 1939, is a unique non-
profit farm organization. Their
dedicated membership represents
virtually all commodity groups
across the province.
The association is represented by
more than 50 local county and
district branches across the province
and is a significant presence in all the
major agricultural areas of Ontario.
OSCIA is committed to four strategic
directions: producer education, loca!
association development, program
delivery and consumer outreach.0