INDIANAPOLIS – Backyard chicken farmers are being urged to keep a close eye on their flocks following the detection of a lethal avian flu virus in the state.
Animal health officials fear the fast-moving virus, found in a backyard flock in northern Indiana on Friday, could decimate the state’s $1.3 billion poultry industry if not quickly contained.
The strain of virus found here poses little risk to humans. But backyard poultry, on the rise in Indiana, may be especially vulnerable since many flocks lack bio-security precautions that can ward off the threat, officials said.
“We’re talking about the potential for a huge loss of animal life,” said Purdue University veterinarian Patricia Wakenell, who helps lead avian diagnostics at the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.
Wakenell warns people to avoid contact with dead or sick birds, though there is slim chance that the virus could jump to humans.
As of Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture had detected the virus known as highly pathogenic avian influenza in 156 commercial and backyard poultry flocks in 16 states, including Indiana.
More than 32 million birds have been killed to keep it from spreading.
The Indiana case involved only 77 birds. But Purdue and animal health officials are testing domesticated ducks, geese and chickens within a 10-kilometer radius.
All but one of 53 flocks in the area are of the backyard variety.
Tests of those flocks have come back negative but it's too early to say if the virus is contained, said Denise Derrer, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Board of Animal Health.
“It’s day by day, really hour by hour,” Derrer said.
The virus causes a highly infectious, severe respiratory disease. It’s carried by wild migratory birds that don’t appear ill. It can be spread through contact with manure or through the air when poultry cough or sneeze.
Commercial poultry producers have increased bio-security measures, which include protective clothing and a ban on outsiders who may unwittingly track the virus.
Derrer said backyard farmers should take similar steps since wild birds that carry the virus leave droppings in a range of public places.
“It’s easily carried on the bottom of your shoes,” she said. “No one should be walking around your backyard chicken coop unless their shoes have been cleaned and disinfected.”
While those steps diminish the odds of spreading the virus, they can't eliminate the risk.
Wakenell said about 40 percent of her clients are backyard farmers. Many are city dwellers with just a few chickens in their coops.
She warns them against buying additional chickens, for now, since it’s difficult to tell if a bird has been infected.
“Everyone needs to quarantine their flocks,” she said, “and report any sign of illness to the State Board of Health.”
Andrew Blake, a backyard poultry farmer and founder of the urban-farming advocacy group Nap Town Chickens in Indianapolis, gives similar advice. He urges backyard farmers to take precautions that include cleaning their coops and keeping outsiders away.
Blake, who builds chicken coops designed for the backyards of city dwellers, has added advice for people who’ve made pets of their poultry.
“We have customers who travel with their birds. They need to quit doing that,” he said.
Across the United States, the rapidly worsening outbreak has killed more poultry than any previous incidence of the virus.
Two strains of the virus are circulating among wild and domestic flocks, said Derrer. A majority of deaths in commercial operations are traced to a strain known as H5N2. The strain detected in Indiana is H5N8.
So far most cases involve commercial operations with thousands of birds, but that may be because they’re more closely monitored.
It’s unknown how many backyard poultry flocks are kept in Indiana, since the state doesn’t require poultry owners to register. The Board of Animal Health maintains a self-registry, which has more than 7,200 names.
“But that’s nowhere near the real number,’’ Derrer said.
The virus bears the potential to be devastating economically. Indiana leads the nation in domesticated duck exports, said Wakenell.
It’s also among the top egg-producing states.
The human toll from is real, too, said Wakenell.
“You can’t face the possibility of so much death and not be affected. Right now, we should all be on high alert," she said.