15,000 Ark. hens test positive for bird-flu exposure

www.usatoday.com...

LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Tyson Foods Inc. has begun killing and burying the carcasses of 15,000 hens from a flock that tested positive for exposure to a strain of the bird flu in northwest Arkansas, state officials said Tuesday.

Tyson said preliminary tests on the flock indicated the presence of antibodies for H7N3, a less virulent strain of the virus.

Fitch said state officials decided against announcing the infection to the general public because the birds tested positive for exposure to the H7N3 strain of the virus. The strain that ravaged Asian poultry stocks in late 2003 was H5N1 bird flu virus. That version of the virus has killed 240 people worldwide and scientists worry it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people.

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said a 2004 outbreak of H7N3 at a poultry plant in British Columbia, Canada, did sicken two workers there. The CDC said the two workers recovered after treatment with the antiviral medication.

This is a great example of showing people that this problem has not been forgotten. They killed 15,000 which is a massive amount of profit and animals gone, they have also tested every other bird there and they got a 90 day suspension for trade, so they couldn't trade for 90 days until it was 100% safe. I think this is a great example of preparation, we identify the problem, act against it and then correct the past mistakes to improve defenses against this.

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