The head of the Ministry for Primary Industries says bird flu has spread at a commercial egg farm in rural Otago.
Yesterday, Biosecurity New Zealand deputy director-general Stuart Anderson said tests from the Mainland Poultry-managed farm in rural Otago had identified a high pathogenic subtype of avian influenza called H7N6. Strict controls were put in place at the property.
Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) said it has suspended certification of live and raw poultry commodities for export to markets requiring freedom from the virus.
A total of 80,000 chickens need to be culled, half the birds the farm in Hillgrove holds. (Source: 1News)
“This will remain in place until, for example, MPI has the certainty that the disease has been contained within a defined area.”
“Depopulation of the birds in the affected shed” would be undertaken, MPI said in a statement.
Director-General of MPI Ray Smith told Breakfast this morning: “We actually had an update last night.
“We’re doing a range of testing on that farm, there are four large barns on that farm – so there’s about 160,000 live birds on the farm – and unfortunately, not unexpectedly, another barn on that farm has actually proven to be infected as well.
“That’s why we’ve got the containment facility around that whole farm.
“There’s restricted movements on or off that farm so the disease, or the virus, stays there.”
The development meant about 80,000 birds would be culled, Smith said.
Tracking movement on and off the farm
“It’s not altogether unexpected, but a sad situation,” Smith continued.
“What we’ve been looking at with our veterinary staff on the ground is the movements between the main infected site and any other potential site.
Strict restrictions were in place at Hillgrove Egg Farm to stop the virus spreading. (Source: 1News)
“We’re keeping an eye on those and we’ve got surveillance practices there, and that’s the normal tracing and tracking process that we run when we have a bio-security incident.”
“Movements” could refer to staff, products, or birds. Movements both on to and off the farm would be tracked, particularly over the last two weeks, Smith said.
The incubation period for the virus was about seven to 21 days before it would show up in birds, he added.
“So there’s a little bit in front of us just to know the outer limits of where this might be.
“So far, we’ve only seen signs on this one farm, so that’s good,” he said.
How did this happen?
“The low pathogenic variety of the strains of avian influenza are existing in New Zealand water fowl like ducks and swans and things, and when they mix within a chicken farm, the virus can mutate into a highly pathogenic strain so it becomes much more virulent and spreads quite rapidly amongst the poultry farm,” Smith explained.
“That’s what’s happened here. So it’s within the New Zealand environment and the challenge now is to make sure that we can cull these animals out.”
The culling would begin tomorrow, he said.
“It’s a bigger operation now because we’ve got a bit more to do there, and we need to make sure that the bio-security controls are well in place.”
The risks
This virus did not transfer into eggs, Smith said.
“The important thing for the public is: There’s no human health safety risks here.
“Just – as we always say – with poultry products, you need to cook them and that’s the way that you make sure that you don’t pick up anything unexpected.
“The second point is, it’s not a risk to wildlife,” he continued. “This is not the big bird flu concern that we’ve been promoting quite heavily that’s travelling around the world with migratory birds.
“New Zealand’s been fortunate those migratory birds haven’t made it here yet.
“We’ve been planning for it and if that comes, of course that will have a different impact.”
Smith said the strain at the farm was “largely” contained to the poultry industry.
