From staff reports Dr. Rod Hall, D.V.M., Oklahoma State Veterinarian issued the following statement warning of the prevalence of highly pathogenic avian influenza: Highly pathogenic avian influenza is very prevalent in the United States in general and in Oklahoma and our surrounding states specifically.
In Oklahoma, “We’ve had one backyard flock in Roger Mills County and two commercial flocks in Adair County that became infected in the past month,” Hall reported. “There have been more than 30 cases confirmed in the U.S. in the past week. Many of those have been small backyard flocks, but many have been commercial flocks, one in Iowa with 4.2 million hens.” Infected poultry either die or are euthanized to help prevent the spread of the disease.
Due to the warmer-than-usual fall, migratory waterfowl are still migrating south, “and from reports we’ve received, there are still a lot of birds north of us that will be coming through Oklahoma in the next few weeks,” Hall said. “Many of those ducks and geese are carrying and shedding this virus.”
Avian influenza was confirmed inTexas and Kansas in March and has spread to 16 states among dairy cattle. California officials reported 645 infected dairy herds there last week.
Oklahomans should be aware of the danger to domestic poultry “and institute the best biosecurity they can for the next several weeks,” Hall advised. This includes keeping poultry penned away from waterfowl and water where waterfowl gather, not allowing waterfowl to approach domestic poultry spaces, and changing clothes and shoes before going to any domestic poultry area after being in locations where waterfowl have defecated.
“This virus is very transmissible, which is evident by the fact that commercial poultry operations that have good routine biosecurity become infected from exposure to waterfowl and by the introduction of the virus on people and equipment,” Hall warned