Canadians have little to fear from the so-called bird flu virus, say government officials and producer marketing boards.
The virus does not easily transmit, other than from bird to bird, and no poultry or poultry products from southeast Asia are allowed into Canada. Biosecurity, distances between farms and Canadian regulations protect against infection and outbreak, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“Farming is very different there (Hong Kong and China). There are more open areas where wild birds can come in contact with domestic flocks … . Hogs are also raised in close proximity to the chickens. The combination can yield a virus that can affect humans,” said Ahmad Afshar, head of virology, with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in Hull, Que.
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The inspection agency has heightened security on imports from Hong Kong and the animal disease surveillance unit is monitoring the situation along with the human disease surveillance unit.
“Canadian growers have little to worry about from this outbreak,” said Van Stuart of the Saskatchewan Chicken Marketing Board.
The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus that has killed four people in Hong Kong is a version of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.
But another version of HPAI is nonpathogenic and not uncommon in Canadian poultry flocks.
Canadian flocks have not seen a highly pathogenic version of the virus since 1966. Found then in a single flock and affecting only turkeys, the virus has not mutated here the way it has in southeast Asia.
The virus contains segmented genes that are naturally open to change. During propagation a shift in antigens can occur and occasionally a sequence of shifts occurs that will create pathogenic sequences of genes. The result of this can be fatal to bird populations. If this virus is combined with similar viruses found in hogs, a variant can be created that can affect humans.
HPAI virus often combines with other strains of the same virus and that makes immunization for bird populations impractical.
Canadian populations of domestic fowl have never had an outbreak of the disease beyond a single isolated incident. In 1983 and 1984, United States chicken and turkey producers experienced a severe epidemic of HPAI that wiped out 60 percent in infected flocks and produced a rapid decline in egg production in remaining birds.
The U.S. eradicated the virus through the destruction of 17 million fowl at a cost of $63 million in compensation and control programs. Australia and Italy reported minor outbreaks of HPAI in 1997 but China is still experiencing an epidemic of the virus that began nearly a year ago.
