Bird Flu Outbreak on Us Farm

Poultry farmers in the US state of Delaware killed 12,000 chickens at the weekend, hoping to contain a variant of the avian flu which has hit flocks in Asia.

Poultry farmers in the US state of Delaware killed 12,000 chickens at the weekend, hoping to contain a variant of the avian flu which has hit flocks in Asia.

Comparing the Delaware Strain to Asian Bird Flu

Officials in Delaware said it appeared the outbreak was limited to a single flock that had come into contact with live birds in a New York City market. They said the flu strain differed from the H5N1 type witnessed in Thailand and Vietnam, which has killed at least 18 people and led to the culling of more than 45 million birds in 10 countries across Asia.

The H7 variant in Delaware posed no risk to human health, officials said.

Delaware’s Response to the Outbreak

However, the authorities were taking no chances. Michael Scuse, the state’s agriculture secretary, said the cull was the largest in the state’s history, and was ordered to ensure the disease was not transmitted to other flocks.

“We don’t want this to spread,” he told a news conference. “We’re trying to protect an industry that is very important.”

Economic Fallout and International Reaction

The contaminated farm did not supply chickens to any poultry company, a Delaware agriculture department official said, but the state began testing 12 nearby commercial farms on Saturday to try to limit the economic fallout from the discovery of the virus.

Within hours of Thursday’s announcement of the bird flu outbreak, Japan and South Korea halted all imports of American poultry.