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Craig Price, who is leading the federal government’s response to the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, told the media on Monday that cases had been confirmed on 11 properties in Ontario. The latest case, identified Sunday, was in the Township of Glengarry just west of the Quebec border. Price would not say how many birds have been killed in the two cases closest to London – in Chatham-Kent and West Oxford – to protect the identities of the producers involved. In 2015, federal and county officials spent months reducing and eventually eliminating a strain of bird flu. This outbreak was limited to three farms in Oxford County. About 80,000 birds, mostly turkeys, became extinct.
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The first confirmed case of a wild bird in the county was a red-tailed hawk found in the Waterloo area on March 21, federal government biologist Chris Sharp told the same source. The hawk “showed neurological signs and was euthanized,” Sharp said. The first outbreak of Ontario poultry was confirmed by officials March 27 in Guelph-Eramosa Township in a turkey herd. Price did not specify where the 10th outbreak was located in Chatham-Kent. “We have not seen or observed evidence of disease-to-farm transmission in any of the cases in Canada,” Price said. Such a transmission is possible, but the current outbreaks are “probably an introduction by wild birds”. This is the first time the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian influenza has been found in Canada, said Mary Jane Ireland, executive director of animal health, policy and program management at the Canadian Food and Drug Administration and Canada’s chief veterinarian. was also in the update. “I think this is, in recent memory, one of the most outbreaks of bird flu in many provinces and the first time we had H5N1,” he said. The Ontario Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs says bird flu is not a threat to food safety when done properly and cooked. He also says that bird flu is not a major public health concern for healthy people who do not come into regular contact with infected birds. [email protected] Twitter.com/DanatLFPress
