High levels of antibiotic-resistance in Indian poultry farming raises concerns

As use of growth-promoting antibiotics in animal farming increases worldwide, new study warns of potentially disastrous consequences to human health

Date: July 20, 2017

Source: Burness

Summary: A new study from India raises questions about the dangers to human health of farming chicken with growth-promoting antibiotics -- including some of the same drugs used in raising millions of chickens in the United States and worldwide.

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New NDV-H5NX avian influenza vaccine has potential for mass vaccination of poultry

Date:January 7, 2016

Source:Kansas State University

A team of researchers at Kansas State University, in collaboration with Garcia-Sastre of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has developed a vaccine that protects poultry from multiple strains of avian influenza found in the U.S., including H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8. The vaccine has the potential to be administered through water or into embryonated eggs, making it easier for poultry producers to vaccinate flocks.

The vaccine, called NDV-H5Nx, protects chickens and likely other poultry against the three recently introduced U.S. avian influenza strains H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8, as well as against Newcastle disease virus -- a virus that naturally affects poultry. Avian influenza killed millions of chickens and turkeys in the U.S. in spring and summer 2015, leading to billions in lost revenue for the U.S. poultry industry.

The NDV-H5Nx vaccine also has the potential to be administered to millions of birds at a time through water, said Jürgen Richt, Regents distinguished professor of veterinary medicine, director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases at Kansas State University and one of the researchers involved in the discovery.

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There’s nothing paltry about these rare birds

By ANDREW PARKINSON

May 14, 2014, 9:30 p.m.

Sean Tydeman has only been in the rare-poultry breeding game for two years but already has plenty to crow about.

The Aberglasslyn man will present a selection of birds at the Rare Poultry Breeder’s Association’s annual show on Saturday.

This year marks the ninth edition of the show at Maitland Showground’s poultry pavilion and organisers expect it to be the biggest yet.

More than 650 birds were on display last year and came from as far away as north Queensland.

Mr Tydeman said he enjoyed the birds’ individual traits.

“From their looks and the variety as well as their personalities, some of them have very distinct ­personalities,” he said.

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Researchers: New form of poultry disease found

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) - Researchers say a serious new form of a viral poultry disease has been found in Washington state.

Infectious bursal disease virus, known as IBDV for short, is not known to infect people or other animals. Washington State University's animal disease lab says it has been confirmed in one flock of birds here - the first confirmed case in the United States outside of California.

The disease can kill many birds in a flock and hits young birds especially. It can also suppress their immune system, making them more susceptible to secondary diseases.

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USDA plan to speed up poultry-processing lines could increase risk of bird abuse

Nearly 1 million chickens and turkeys are unintentionally boiled alive each year in U.S. slaughterhouses, often because fast-moving lines fail to kill the birds before they are dropped into scalding water, Agriculture Department records show.

Now the USDA is finalizing a proposal that would allow poultry companies to accelerate their processing lines, with the aim of removing pathogens from the food supply and making plants more efficient. But that would also make the problem of inhumane treatment worse, according to government inspectors and experts in poultry slaughter.

USDA inspectors assigned to the plants say much of the cruel treatment they witness is tied to the rapid pace at which employees work, flipping live birds upside down and shackling their legs. If the birds are not properly secured, they might elude the automated blade and remain alive when they enter the scalder.

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Poultry Drug Increases Levels of Toxic Arsenic in Chicken Meat

May 13, 2013 — Chickens likely raised with arsenic-based drugs result in chicken meat that has higher levels of inorganic arsenic, a known carcinogen, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

This is the first study to show concentrations of specific forms of arsenic (e.g., inorganic arsenic versus other forms) in retail chicken meat, and the first to compare those concentrations according to whether or not the poultry was raised with arsenical drugs. The findings provide evidence that arsenical use in chickens poses public health risks and indicate that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency responsible for regulating animal drugs, should ban arsenicals, experts say. 

The study was published online today in the scientific journalEnvironmental Health Perspectives. 

Conventional, antibiotic-free, and USDA Organic chicken samples were purchased from 10 U.S. metropolitan areas between December 2010 and June 2011, when an arsenic-based drug then manufactured by Pfizer and known as roxarsone was readily available to poultry companies that wished to add it to their feed. In addition to inorganic arsenic, the researchers were able to identify residual roxarsone in the meat they studied; in the meat where roxarsone was detected, levels of inorganic arsenic were four times higher than the levels in USDA Organic chicken (in which roxarsone and other arsenicals are prohibited from use). 

Arsenic-based drugs have been used in poultry production for decades. Arsenical drugs are approved to make poultry grow faster and improve the pigmentation of the meat. The drugs are also approved to treat and prevent parasites in poultry. In 2010, industry representatives estimated that 88 percent of the roughly nine billion chickens raised for human consumption in the U.S. received roxarsone. In July 2011, Pfizer voluntarily removed roxarsone from the U.S. market, but the company may sell the drug overseas and could resume marketing it in the U.S. at any time. Pfizer still domestically markets the arsenical drug nitarsone, which is chemically similar to roxarsone. Currently in the U.S., there is no federal law prohibiting the sale or use of arsenic-based drugs in poultry feed. (In January, Maryland became the first U.S. state to ban the use of most arsenicals in chicken feed.)

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Germany discovers bird flu case on poultry farm

Published February 15, 2013

Reuters

German authorities said a case of H5N1 bird flu had been discovered during initial tests on a poultry farm in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

The case was discovered in a duck farm, which was carrying out its own tests, the Brandenburg state agriculture ministry said on Friday.

The H5N1 virus mainly affects birds but occasionally jumps to people. Experts fear it may mutate into a form that could spread easily among humans, who have no natural immunity against it.

The initial finding was confirmed by a state laboratory, and final tests are currently being carried out, the state ministry said.

The farm has been sealed off and its poultry will be culled, the statement said.

The cause is unknown and an investigation has started.

Bird flu is currently present in Asian countries including China, Cambodia and Indonesia. It has also been reported in wild birds in parts of Europe.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/02/15/germany-discovers-bird-flu-case-on-poultry-farm/#ixzz2LMKBuPUL

Bird flu hits S China city

BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The H5N1 avian flu virus has been detected in the city of Zhanjiang in south China's Guangdong province, experts confirmed on Tuesday.

The virus has infected 14,050 ducks and killed 6,300 of them since Sept. 11, when symptoms were first reported, a Ministry of Agriculture official said.

After the epidemic was confirmed, local authorities cordoned off an infected area in the city and killed all poultry in the area before starting to decontaminate it, the official said.

China is particularly prone to bird flu epidemics, as it has the world's largest poultry population and many rural farmers live in close proximity to their poultry.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-09/18/c_131858481.htm