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Talking Turkey

November 6th, 2005

Government officials try to ease consumer concerns about avian flu as Americans prepare for Thanksgiving.

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Martha Brant
Newsweek
Updated: 8:35 a.m. ET Nov. 1, 2005

Nov. 1, 2005 - With Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, the U.S. government and the poultry industry are scrambling to make sure avian flu fears don’t keep Americans from enjoying the traditional turkey dinner this year.

Last week, Dr. Ron DeHaven, a veterinarian and head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, gathered with other members of the government’s “biosecurity” team and Alice Johnson, president of the National Turkey Federation, to elaborate on steps they’ve taken to keep U.S. poultry healthy, and to offer tips for worried home cooks who want to take extra precautions this holiday season.

Is there reason for Americans to worry? Not much, say officials. There are almost as many turkeys raised each year in the United States as there are people, and there’s little doubt that some commercially grown birds will get a mild strain of avian flu this year. There are 144 types of bird flu, which can range from low to highly pathogenic (or contagious). But only the high path strain called H5N1 is known to kill people, and, to date, it has not infected U.S. poultry.

Another highly contagious strain for chickens, H5N2, has caused two outbreaks at U.S. chicken farms in the past. The biggest occurred in 1983 in Pennsylvania, leading to the destruction of 17 million chickens at a cost of about $70 million. In 2004, there was a smaller outbreak in Texas. But officials stress that in neither instance did the flu spread to humans. Most of the routine bird flu each year is not very contagious and doesn’t cause outbreaks. “With the current situation, our concern is that we’ve set the stage for an overreaction,” DeHaven says.

Still, with the threat of the deadly H5N1 strain in mind, the U.S. government is taking some additional precautions this year. They’re stepping up their biosecurity education abroad and plan to increase testing of migratory birds from Asia. Here at home, the government is stockpiling vaccines for poultry, as well as people, in case of an outbreak. Barring anyone but farm workers from entering chicken coops is another safety measure. “The [chicken] houses are tight, well contained with no ability for wild birds to enter and cross contaminate these birds,” explains Carlton Courter, Virginia’s agriculture commissioner.

An outbreak of the more contagious strains of avian flu would be easy to spot and, hopefully, to contain. When such a virus hits a flock, the birds die off quickly. DeHaven has a cadre of 40,000 private veterinarians who are on call to check out any suspected outbreaks. The “foreign animal disease reserve vets” respond within four hours, descending on a flock with test kits in hand and ready to quarantine the area. But USDA inspectors also routinely checks birds’ health both on the farm, where bird saliva or feces may be examined, and at processing plants, where inspectors examine the birds’ organs for signs of flu and other diseases. The agency conducts about 1 million tests a year on farms. “The chance of infected poultry entering the food chain would be extremely low,” says USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Dick Raymond.

So far, officials say, no one in Asia or elsewhere has died from eating infected chickens, ducks or anything else. (Pigs can also get the “avian” flu.) But Raymond offers some Thanksgiving tips for worried home cooks. His mantra: clean, separate, cook and chill. Wash hands and surfaces that come in contact with raw poultry—or any meat for that matter. Cook a whole turkey to 185 degrees. Refrigerate it at 45 degrees or lower within two hours of cooking. Use leftovers within four days. (For more tips, go to www.fsis.usda.gov.)

The USDA is more concerned about live, not cooked, birds. The agency routinely checks bird markets in places like New York, but there are many smaller markets around the country. Some exotic birds are also smuggled into the United States for pets or for sport. Bird smuggling is a big business and poses a problem, officials say. A few years ago, roosters smuggled into California from Mexico for cockfighting caused an outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease, which is highly contagious—but only for birds.

Migratory birds pose some threat to U.S. poultry—especially to so-called backyard birds, like those kept on family farms or as pets, and to free-range chickens (though farms and plants are closely monitored by the USDA). Although avian flu is endemic to migratory birds, they have only been found to carry the “low path”—or less potent—avian flu in the United States. But the bird flu can mutate into the more dangerous “high path” virus and birds from Asia could also carry such a strain. U.S. officials are concerned because water fowl from eastern Asia and northern China pass over Alaska before returning home. Other birds fly up the “Pacific flyway” to Alaska and commingle with the Asian birds. This poses a risk of cross-contamination.

About 12,000 birds in the Pacific flyway have been tested over the last five years. But critics like John El-Attrache, an avian-virus expert at Texas A&M University, say that is a tiny fraction of the number of birds that should be tested. “There needs to be some type of systematic surveillance system,” says El-Attrache. “All these flyways have merging routes.” That may happen soon. Legislation is currently pending in Congress that would dramatically increase funding for such sampling.

Still, while migratory birds pose a small risk for U.S. poultry, experts say there’s little chance at this time of the virus spreading to people in the United States. Those who were infected abroad are believed to have contracted the deadly form of avian flu through a lot of direct contact with bird saliva and feces. No migratory bird has directly infected anyone in Asia or elsewhere, and experts aren’t even sure a migratory bird with the deadly strain could fly all the way to the United States. Now that’s something Americans can be thankful for this Thanksgiving—that, and not having to give up their turkey dinner.
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

Takeen From: http://msnbc.msn.com

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