Columbia, Jan 15 (AP) A duck killed by a hunter in South Carolina had a contagious and dangerous bird flu that hasn’t been found in the wild in the US in five years, officials said.
The flu poses a low risk to people but can spread quickly through chicken houses and other poultry businesses.
Eurasian H5 avian influenza was first detected by scientists at Clemson University and confirmed by federal testing, the school said in a news release.
The US Department of Agriculture alerted global health officials. Scattered Eurasian H5 infections have been detected from Portugal to Bulgaria in 2022, and two cases were reported in eastern Canada in December, officials said.
Neault, who runs Clemson University’s Livestock Poultry Health Program, said anyone who raises poultry, including backyard farms, needs to review their practices to keep birds safe from disease.
Those practices include washing hands thoroughly before and after handling wild and domesticated birds, and using gloves and other protective gear when handling live birds.
The university said farmers should keep their birds away from areas where geese and ducks roam, clean their cages and coops regularly and buy new birds from reputable sources and keep them away from the rest of the flock for 30 days. keep away, the university said.
“So far we have no indication that (the flu) has passed from wild migratory birds to poultry and we would like to keep it that way,” Niolt said in a statement. (AP) IJT
(This story has been published as part of an auto-generated Syndicate wire feed. Headline or body have not been edited by ABP Live.)
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