By Bob Burgdorfer
MT. JACKSON, Virginia — Visitors to the Koontz chicken farm in northern Virginia must suit up in battle gear — shower caps, overalls, latex gloves and disinfected boots.
The safety measures are all part of the ongoing battle to keep bird flu out of the U.S. chicken flock.
The deadly H5N1 strain of the flu has been in headlines around the world, but so far it remains overseas. However, the father and son team of John and Kenneth Koontz, along with thousands of other U.S. poultry farmers, are worried that one day it will arrive here.
At the Koontz farm, tucked between the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains, cars and trucks must park 50 feet away from the four enclosed chicken houses which hold 80,000 birds, to prevent germs from migrating from the vehicles to the flocks.
“We are taking measures to fight against it. It’s almost like fighting something that you don’t know what you are fighting,” said John Koontz.
The H5N1 avian influenza is in the spotlight because that particular strain is dangerous to people. Since 2003, it has killed 115 people in Africa, Asia and Europe. Milder forms of the flu have also affected birds.
The H5N1 strain has never been found in the United States, but government and industry officials are worried that migratory birds could bring it here, possibly this year.
Overseas, the disease has spread to people who have been in close contact with infected birds. But what is really worrying scientists is the possibility that the strain could mutate to a form that could easily pass from person to person. A bird flu pandemic could fly around the world in weeks or months, killing tens of millions.
RISKS ARE HIGH FOR CHICKEN INDUSTRY
In the United States, chickens are raised in houses and protected from outside carriers of flu, such as migratory birds.
The H5N1 strain is dangerous to chickens and can quickly wipe out entire flocks. That would cause economic hardship for the producer as well as his neighbors, because the host flock as well as surrounding ones would have to be destroyed, poultry industry officials said.
As a result, farmers here are vigilant in fighting a disease that is not here yet.
In addition to the trays of disinfectants outside the chicken houses, cans of Lysol disinfectant are in the Koontz house and in farm vehicles to spray shoes and clothes when the two men return from off-farm errands.
“If you lost a house of birds you would not get paid,” said John Koontz. “You would end up losing everything you had in it.”
Koontz’s farm raises chickens for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., the second-largest U.S. chicken producer. The farm produces about 400,000 chickens a year, which are processed into meat for restaurants, supermarkets, and export.
The farm also has beef cattle and crops, but the chickens are “the backbone of the operation,” said Koontz.
BIOSECURITY HAS BEEN PRACTICED FOR YEARS
Biosecurity measures have been in place on U.S. poultry farms for years because mild strains of bird flu have occurred here.
“Even with low-pathogenic (flu), we would put all four houses down” or destroy all the chickens on the farm, said Jeff Bushong, Pilgrim’s Pride’s production manager for Virginia, referring to the Koontz operation.
Then there is the downtime.
“You would have to clean and disinfect to our and the government’s standards. Then the government would come in and make a final inspection. It is usually six to eight weeks,” said Bushong.
An outbreak of H5N1 would also likely hurt chicken exports, an important revenue-producer for the industry.
The United States exports about 15 percent of its chicken meat, nearly all dark-meat portions, such as leg quarters and wings which are popular overseas. An outbreak of the dangerous flu would likely prompt export customers to ban chicken from the infected region.
Industry sources are seeking to reassure consumers that should a case occur here, cooking chicken will kill the virus.
However, in response to the H5N1 outbreaks overseas, the National Chicken Council implemented a plan in which all U.S. chicken flocks will be tested for the flu.
“We started it in January. It is in full swing. You cannot send the birds to the processor without a clean test,” said Richard Lobb, NCC spokesman. “We already had the testing, but we knew we had to do something more serious.”
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