Testing results for potential further spread of the avian influenza variant found at an Otago chicken farm are expected today.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Minister for Biosecurity and Food Safety Andrew Hoggard said the testing had been carried out at other sheds on the premises — and at other properties that trucks and equipment have gone to.
Chickens at the commercial egg farm in Otago tested positive for the high pathogenic strain of avian influenza known as H7N6, it was announced on Tuesday.
Around 80,000 birds would have to be culled at Hillgrove Egg Farm over the next two to three days after further testing revealed the virus had spread to a second barn at the facility.
Hoggard said six farms have now been traced and tested but he said not all of them are “that concerning”.
“It’s a truck movement and they have truck washers at all these farms, and they have good biosecurity practices for vehicles going in and out. We’re just testing to be on the safe side, even though they already have strict protocols in place.”
The H7N6 strain of the virus found in Otago differed from the H5N1 variant which has a higher likelihood of circulating around wildlife and transmitting to humans.
In the area where the strain was found, Hoggard said he was “confident” there would soon be an outline of how far the virus may have spread.
“We won’t know for sure the extent of the spread until we’ve got that testing done, but certainly what I saw yesterday from the outside of the farm and some of the operations really good biosecurity that’s happening.
“With the testing in place, I think we’ll work out quickly where it is and then be able to eradicate it down.
“We’re kind of lucky this farm is geographically isolated. One of the challenges they had in the Australian outback recently … is there was quite a few chicken farms close together which is why it spread from one property to another.”
Hoggard said once the spread has been worked out, exports may be able to resume — if the virus was locked within a contained area.
“If we’re certain this issue is contained to Otago … we’ve got this big moat between half of our country, can we export from the North Island again, and then move to Canterbury.
“It’s going to come down to how far its spread, and once we’ve stopped it we’ll have a much better idea of the time.”
Yesterday, 1News spoke to an expert who detailed what the presence of this strain of the virus meant for New Zealand, and why there was a low risk to public health.
