Lessons learned so far, expecting avian flu to persist

The highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) virus that swept through North America in 2022 will likely remain a threat in 2023, but over the past seven months, growers, veterinarians and poultry industry stakeholders have learned a few lessons from responding to the often devastating disease.

As of October 17, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says over 3.1 million birds — mostly chickens, turkeys and ducks — have died or had to be depopulated on farms across Canada in 2022 due to AI. Over 1.3 million of these were in Alberta.

dr Teryn Girard, a poultry veterinarian at Prairie Livestock Veterinarians, has been involved in diagnosing and treating many AI cases in Alberta. While there is still much to be learned about the virus, including how it spreads, she says there has been progress in understanding the actions to follow a suspected case, including the mental support needed for producers and others involved in the process .

As some of you know, this is a topic that I (Kelvin) have been following closely as we raise chickens on our farm in southern Manitoba (pictured above). From this unique position of wearing both my poultry producer hat and my journalist hat, I welcomed the opportunity to work with Dr. Girard to speak to RealAg Radio on Tuesday about the lessons learned so far regarding the ongoing AI outbreak.

Here are some of the highlights of our conversation (edited for brevity, as they say):

KH: Where are we now with regard to bird flu? Is it getting quieter again?

dr Teryn Girard: I wouldn’t say – it might be only It’s getting quieter in Alberta. In the last few weeks we have had three small herds. For Alberta we have a total of 52 cases in 2022. Unfortunately, cases in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are still increasing. So it’s not quiet yet. But I think we can see a connection with migratory birds.

What are these cases like? Are we still seeing high mortality?

The answer is that the avian flu virus didn’t read textbooks this year. It doesn’t always mean high mortality. In these recent cases we have had high mortality in both small flocks and commercial turkeys and we have recently had farms with one or two layers. So it was high mortality, but there were cases that didn’t have high mortality. This virus manifests itself differently in different bird species and birds of different ages, so we’re constantly testing and trying to figure out when it’s avian flu and when it’s something else.

You mentioned turkeys. Are they more vulnerable? Or what are some of the similarities or trends observed?

The trend is that the turkeys got hit really hard in the fall. It looks like they are more vulnerable. They also have a lifestyle that can be a little more risky for bird flu – they need more ventilation and live longer than broilers. So you are at a higher risk. The other trends that we have seen are that layers also have high mortality. We have seen two brood cases with AI and they had high mortality and then broilers can have high mortality or just high morbidity which means disease. The producer knows something is wrong, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s going to be a really high mortality rate.

What about the vectors? Does the virus move through the movement of manure or do we also see aerosol or air movement?

We do not have this information about it. We know that avian influenza management benefits from increased biosecurity. But as you know, biosecurity in poultry houses is already quite high. Regarding the question about aerosols. I think what I’m more focused on right now is dust and wind. So when people harvest the fields at the barn gullies, that’s a risk. But we’ve only been dealing with it since April 2022. So not even a year yet, so this epidemiology or this investigation into how it got into the barn, we’re just not there yet.

What is your role as a veterinarian? What happens if there is a suspicion and a call or SMS comes in?

That’s what we’ve focused on as a team – what do we do when we get that call? So typically the call is, “Hey, I think something’s going on. I’m not sure what it is.’ But usually the producer already has a gut feeling that it’s bird flu. Our goal as a veterinarian for the customer is to diagnose them as quickly as possible. So our goal is less than 24 hours. Sometimes it’s longer than that. As we work to get swabs from birds and get them to the lab, we’re also communicating with the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) to let them know we have a suspect case, and also let the emergency management teams know that there is a suspected case. And sometimes the processors too, to think about other transport routes and whether they will miss out on the kilos they have suffered. When the producers’ birds test positive, it’s almost as if we stand on the sidelines and help them alongside the emergency management team with paperwork, SOPs and any questions they have while they work with the CFIA, because ultimately they take over CFIA then takes responsibility. And there are a number of steps that the producer has to go through. And during that process we’re just standing on the sidelines trying to help the producer with what they need but also in terms of the mental health aspects by being just a shoulder to lean on to help Providing resources for mental health, whatever we can do.

So we’re still learning about the virus and how it moves, but is it fair to say that you’ve made more progress in learning the process and the steps to follow once it’s discovered?

Yes, definitely. I know our team very well, we’ve dealt with quite a lot of cases and we know exactly what role each person plays. And again we thought we had to sit down as a team and say, ‘Okay, what are our goals and our goals are to get the producers a diagnosis as soon as possible because at that point they’re wondering if it’s bird flu , when there’s something else going on in the barn, that’s one of the harder points for the producer. And then, now, at this point in time, knowing what the CFIA requires for each step, helping the producer get those requirements in order, and knowing what’s to come in the future so he can complete the process as quickly as possible can complete.

Speaking of mental health – personally speaking there has been some stress in the last half year, maybe more fear of the possibility of getting it and we luckily didn’t have it on our farm but I can only imagine the level of stress that happens would if there is a positive case and some of the steps that need to happen after that.

This is sort of a mental health Rubik’s Cube, I guess is the way to put it. You have the mental health consequences of a producer with birds that are sick with avian influenza and then those birds are depopulated. As you know, it’s a lifestyle for these producers. And they put all their hard work, sweat and tears into it. It is one way to live. And when those birds are suddenly sick and can’t be treated and need to be depopulated or humanely euthanized, it’s a massive mental blow to that producer. But then I think you brought up another really important point that I was also trying to shed light on, which is that the producers who haven’t had bird flu but have to go into their barn every morning with this kind of trepidation or nervousness like ‘ Is today the day?’ And so these producers that we work very closely with try to maintain an open communication so that they feel like they have a secure base on which to have as much information as possible. And now we’re also at that point in the disease where growers who had bird flu are now having birds again. And that’s a new mental health challenge, too, because every time you see mortality, you might get a flashback to what it was like to have bird flu. So the mountain of psychological consequences of that, I don’t think they’re fully known yet.

They only talked about the grower side, not to mention veterinarians involved in the picture, as well as other industry partners and stakeholders.

Yes, I had an eye-opening experience last week while speaking about the mental health impact of bird flu. And the theme was, “How can industry personnel help producers who are going through bird flu?”. In the end people came after me who worked for feed companies and worked in a board position. It was two different people at two different times and both were very emotional about how they were affected by bird flu. So it’s a lot bigger than we think. I’m trying to protect our team and our team’s mental health as best I can, but at the end of the day, this is a tragedy on all fronts. It’s tough on the birds, it’s tough on the producers, it’s tough on the industry. It’s tough.

Looking ahead, the outbreak is still ongoing here in Canada, the US and other parts of the world. What will it take for us to move on? Or is this part of our poultry industry all about keeping this close at hand? Do we have to learn to live with it?

I get asked this question every day. And I think it’s too early to reply with a direct answer, but I don’t think we’ve seen the end I can tell. I think we’re going to have a few more outliers here in the fall, and I think it’s going to be that way again in the spring. And going back to what we talked about, the lessons we learned and how we streamlined things and were able to streamline the process a bit more for the producer, I think that’s what we do need focus now. As we deal with bird flu, we currently have the experience across Canada and North America to know what needs to be done. Where spring felt like the end of the world, it doesn’t have to feel like the end of the world now. I think we can do it and move forward as an industry.

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