Declaration provides resources for avian influenza response
Governor
Pete Ricketts has signed a state of emergency declaration to address the
discovery of avian influenza in Nebraska’s poultry sector. The Governor,
in consultation with Nebraska Department
of Agriculture (NDA) Director Greg Ibach, issued the declaration in
order to ensure the availability of resources for the state agencies who
are working in Northeast Nebraska on the avian influenza discovery.
“The
Nebraska Department of Agriculture is coordinating with several state
agencies for a thorough, expeditious response,” Gov. Ricketts said.
“While not a human health threat,
the discovery of avian influenza is a serious situation for our poultry
sector, and I want to provide responders with access to all appropriate
tools to address it.”
The
NDA announced yesterday the finding of a case of highly pathogenic
avian influenza (HPAI) H5N2 in a commercial layer flock in Dixon County.
The flock of 1.7 million chickens
is located within the central flyway where this strain of avian
influenza has previously been identified.
The
flock has been quarantined and, in accordance with United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) protocol, will be depopulated. A
perimeter has been established around the
farm, and NDA staff will be visiting all locations within a 6.2 mile
radius that may have poultry to coordinate additional testing.
“We
have an NDA team in northeast Nebraska and already are receiving great
support from federal, state and local partners,” Ibach said. “This
declaration gives us additional tools
to effectively deal with this disease. We have a poultry sector valued
at $1.1 billion, so obviously the impacts of avian influenza will be
far-reaching.”
The
state of emergency declaration is effective immediately. It will
provide resources to help state agencies with appropriate response
functions such as:
· - Tracking, monitoring and rapidly responding to instances of confirmed HPAI cases throughout the state of Nebraska;
· - Containing
the spread of HPAI within Nebraska through employment of biosecurity
protocols, depopulation of affected birds, disinfection practices, and
disposal of bird mortalities; and ·
- Engaging
in surveillance and early detection activities and other investigatory
efforts to stop the spread of the disease within the state.
State
agencies are working through the Emergency Support Function 11, which
is the agriculture section of the State Emergency Operations Plan.
Activities at present of key involved
state agencies include:
Nebraska Department of Agriculture
·
Serving as the lead on coordination of state response;
·
Working as the liaison with owners of affected farm(s);
·
Enforcing the quarantine of affected farm(s);
·
Working with other state and federal agencies on humane depopulation of, and disposal of, infected birds;
·
Establishing quarantines for farms with poultry within a 6.2 mile radius of affected farm(s) and coordinate testing efforts;
·
Issuing
permits for movement of materials such as feed, other supplies, and
eggs and egg products outside of the 6.2 mile perimeter in accordance
with national biosecurity measures;
·
Coordinating communications.
Nebraska Emergency Management Agency
·
Conducting
coordination meetings of state agencies as per the State Emergency
Operations Plan, and serving as liaison with the Governor’s Office;
·
Serving as the liaison with county and other local emergency response coordinators;
·
Providing resource support as requested, including coordinating with and directing the efforts of other state agencies.
Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality
·
Assisting
with determining environmentally safe disposal options for bird
mortalities, including sending a team to farm site(s). The goal is to
determine best options to protect ground and
surface water resources and air quality, and to manage disposal in a
way that does not propagate further spread of the disease. The USDA has
lengthy protocols for mortality disposal that also must be considered.
Nebraska Department of Roads and Nebraska State Patrol
·
Coordinating access to affected areas through road closures and traffic control.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The
Centers for Disease Control considers the risk to people from HPAI H5
infections to be low. Proper handling and cooking of poultry and eggs to
an internal temperature of 165
degrees kills the virus. Eggs from the affected Dixon County facility
are processed and go through pasteurization, eliminating product
consumption risk. This is an egg laying facility and therefore the
chickens are not consumed.
As
part of the existing USDA avian influenza response plans, federal and
state partners as well as industry are following these five basic steps:
1) Quarantine – restricting movement
of poultry and poultry-moving equipment into and out of the control
area; 2) Eradicate – humanely euthanizing the affected flock(s); 3)
Monitor region – testing wild and domestic birds in a broad area around
the quarantine area; 4) Disinfect – kills the virus
in the affected flock locations; and 5) Test – confirming that the
poultry farm is AI virus-free.
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