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USDA Preparing for Worst Case Scenario for Bird Flu this Fall

Amy Mayer / Iowa Public Radio
Nearly 50 million poultry have been affected by avian influenza this year.

Avian influenza has devastated poultry production in Iowa and Minnesota this year. Things might get worse if the virus returns this fall when wild birds migrate south, so the U.S. poultry industry has gathered this week in Des Moines to discuss strategy. 

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack says his agency is also working to identify potential disposal sites for bird carcasses affected by the virus. Some poultry producers have complained that removing euthanized birds takes too long, and many landfills have been resistant to take them.          

"There are needs for us to take a look on how we can depopulate in the quickest and most humane way possible to avoid the additional spread [of bird flu,]" Vilsack says. "Figure out what the permitting processing is for moving birds, for disposing birds, for dealing with landfills. Reducing the questions and concerns that landfills may have that we experienced here in Iowa for example."

Some in the poultry industry have pushed for an avian flu vaccine and the government has now developed a seed strain that is 100 percent effective for chickens. 

"We've given that seed strain to one company under a licensing agreement. They are going to do some additional tests. And then they'll begin the process of producing it," Vilsack says. "I don't want to say exactly how long that's going to take. But I'll tell you we are in a much better space than we were say six months ago, or six weeks ago when all we had was a vaccine that was 60 percent effective. And that's really not good enough."

The vaccine's success rate in turkeys is unknown. Also vaccination complicates trade since some countries won't import poultry products from inoculated birds.

Of the 211 commercial facilities hit by the virus nationwide this year, Vilsack says roughly 90 sites have finished cleaning and disinfecting, and nearly 70 have begun restocking. In total 50 million birds across 21 states in the west and Midwest have been affected.

The virus has yet to hit the southwest. Georgia and the Carolinas are major centers for broilers, or birds produced for meat.