Why is the bird flu virus now circulating in Asia and Eastern Europe so virulent? How well prepared is the North American poultry industry for an outbreak? What is being done to minimize the trade disruptions already being suffered worldwide? In an online seminar entitled, “Avian Influenza: Dealing with the Challenge,” three experts examined these questions involving the ongoing epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

The seminar, which was designed to help the industry dispel myths surrounding the current bird flu epidemic, featured Dr. David Swayne, director of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Dr. Elizabeth Krushinskie, vice president, Food Safety and Production Programs, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association; and Mr. James H. Sumner, president, USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.

The seminar, which was sponsored by the Watt Poultry Publications, Schering Plough Animal Health and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, can be accessed via digital archive at www.bulldogsolutions.net/WattPublishing/archives/WPC01102006/archive.as p . The seminar's sponsoring WATT Poultry Publications include WATT PoultryUSA, Poultry International, Industria Avicola and Poultry Tribune.

Among other questions, Dr. Swayne addressed the potential vaccination of U.S. poultry flocks for the bird flu. While USDA policy currently rules out vaccinations, instead favoring eradication of the disease, Swayne said the agency would examine future circumstances to determine “the right response” – including possible vaccinations – should the disease occur in the USA. Vaccination is one of the tools, he said, that would be considered by USDA should eradication prove inadequate to deal with any future outbreak in the USA.

Dr. Krushinskie, in reviewing the preparedness of the U.S. poultry industry for any potential bird flu epidemic, concluded that the industry's extensive prevention, surveillance and response systems – in addition to its structural firewalls – would make widespread transmission of the disease in flocks less likely than in other parts of the world. The poultry industry's closed production system – unlike even the U.S. beef and hog production systems where livestock is traded in markets – provides an added measure of protection. “Introduction and significant spread of Asian highly pathogenic avian influenza in the U.S. commercial poultry production system is unlikely to happen,” she concluded.

Mr. Sumner, who participated via a teleconference link while traveling in Guatemala, reflected on the impact avian flu has had on U.S. exports, telling seminar participants, “The bird flu epidemic now being experienced in Asia and Eastern Europe has dominated my life for the last two years.” Sumner, who has been elected to head the newly-formed International Poultry Council, said progress is occurring internationally – principally through the OIE – in the way countries deal with reporting occurrences of disease and whether or not they respond with trade bans. Sumner also shared how the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council is conducting a consumer-oriented educational campaign in key customer markets around the world to shore up confidence in the safety of poultry products.