First Avian Flu Cases in Southwest Confirmed, Leading to Deaths of 37 Million Commercial Farm Birds in Parts of US

Officials in Arizona have confirmed the first cases of bird flu in the Southwest that killed 37 million birds from commercial farms in the central and eastern parts of the United States.

A Phys.org report specified that the disease was detected after tests by the federal wildlife officials on three wild cormorants that had been discovered dead in a park in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale, Arizona Game and Fish officials announced recently.

The agency said the disease has not yet been spotted in any domestic birds or commercial operations.

However, the president and CEO of Hickman and Family Farms, one of the largest producers of eggs in the Southwest, Glenn Hickman, said it is a concern. Hickman runs four chicken ranches in Arizona, two in Colorado, and one in California.

Initiative from Farms

The company has stopped any visits to its farms. It also double-checked its biosecurity program to prevent its roughly two million chickens from being infected.

Hickman and Family Farms' chickens are kept in secured barns to guarantee that birds cannot enter, and any tools or people that come in are disinfected.

Moreover, the company dodged a scare recently when the avian flu was detected in a flock 4.8 kilometers from one of its farms in Colorado; it is not anywhere close to concerning as if a nearby commercial operation experienced an outbreak.

The company CEO explained those are a lot scarier since the massive amount of viruses that are possibly produced when there's a large population is much more than a comparatively small amount of viruses per bird in the wild population. He added none of his farms got affected.

A Major Concern

According to the department's wildlife veterinarian Anne Justice-Allen, calls from the public alerted her agency "to the dead cormorants, water-loving birds" that frequently nest in groups.

The wildlife veterinarian also explained that a major concern is backyard flocks of chicken, which are allowed in metro Phoenix parks. The virus has been detected in many homeowner flocks throughout the country.

She continued by saying, bird owners need to watch for symptoms such as birds that are not eating or lethargy, seizures, runny noses, or diarrhea, a similar SF Gate report said.

Over 37 Million Birds Killed

In a similar report, New York Post reported that the first detection of the new variant of highly infectious avian flu in the domestic poultry in the US was in February in Indiana. Over 37 million birds have been killed to prevent the spread of infection since then.

As of early this month, it had been detected in wild birds in 40 states, but not in California, Nevada, Arizona, or New Mexico. Meanwhile, commercial flocks in 19 states have been infected.

A related report about bird flu is shown on NowThis News's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Bird Flu in Science Times.