040316 Testing for Bird Flu to Be Expanded

Washington - Government and poultry industry officials intend to expand testing for bird flu to cover most of the poultry raised in the United States, possibly this month, an Agriculture Department official said Friday.

The $12.5 million program would focus on the most dangerous forms of the most common variety, low pathogenic avian influenza. These forms, known as H5 and H7, can be no worse than the chicken equivalent of the common cold. If left to spread, however, they can mutate into highly pathogenic varieties that can kill entire flocks in a day.

The new testing system could take effect March 29, assuming it gets final Bush administration approval, said Andrew Rhorer, senior coordinator of the Agriculture Department's Poultry Improvement Plan. The plan was approved on March 5 by a committee of federal, state and industry officials that oversees the program, he said.

Until now, low-path bird flu had gotten a low priority from regulators. The disease is found in nations around the world, and governments are not required to notify international livestock health officials when an outbreak occurs. High-path flu, on the other hand, does require notification, which triggers poultry export embargoes by uninfected countries.

But even the low-path form can be economically devastating. Sick chickens do not grow as fast as healthy ones, so growers have to keep the birds longer and spend more on feed. States sometimes order flocks killed and have quarantined infected farms to prevent the virus from spreading. In addition, importing nations sometimes ban exports from low-path infected areas.

Current testing for low-path bird flu focuses on birds raised for breeding that will be exported to nations which require certification that the animals are free of low-path bird flu, said T.J. Meyers, co-director of the Agriculture Department's National Center for Animal Health Programs.

State health officials test other flocks if they hear of birds that show symptoms. There is no federal testing program for low-path bird flu.

But the current system leaves out commercial flocks raised for meat or eggs, which are almost all of the nation's estimated 9 billion chickens. The new plan would change that, as well as allow tests in turkeys.

The tests would be voluntary, but the industry does not want to see more export bans, so pressure to take part would be strong, Meyers said. Recent outbreaks of low-path bird flu in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania led to a spate of bans which, after a separate high-path bird flu infected a flock in Texas, reached about 35 nations.

The blood tests could be done on the farm or at the slaughterhouse, said Dr. John Smith, health and hatchery director of Fieldale Farms, a poultry company in Baldwin, Ga. As chairman of a poultry committee of the U.S. Animal Health Association, a livestock industry professional organization, the veterinarian worked with the poultry improvement plan committee to draft the testing proposal.

States would administer the program, and could get USDA certification as free of the disease based on their testing and monitoring, Smith said. If an outbreak occurs, these states could get federal aid in dealing with it, he said. Currently, USDA provides aid if the high-path variety is found.

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