The Colorado Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that avian influenza has been detected in La Plata County.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza virus in a mixed species backyard poultry operation Wednesday after tests at Colorado State University.
“It’s definitely something we’ve expected to see in Colorado,” said Olga Robak, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. “It’s divided between the Continental Divide. East of the Divide, we’ve had only confirmed cases in wild birds. West of the Divide, we have had confirmed cases in domestic birds.”
La Plata County becomes the third county in Colorado after Pitkin and Montrose counties, to have an outbreak in poultry.
The owner of the backyard operation informed the Colorado State Veterinarian’s Office of an outbreak in the flock on April 14, according to a Colorado Department of Agriculture news release.
A Durango veterinarian took samples of two sick birds and submitted them to CSU’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. The National Veterinary Services Laboratory confirmed the diagnosis on April 20, three days after the flock’s 40 birds were euthanized, according to USDA data.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture does not share more specific information, Robak said.
HPAI is a highly transmissible and deadly virus transmitted between birds. Wild birds typically spread the disease to poultry, but domesticated flocks can also spread the disease between each other.
“This is a natural virus for (wild birds). They can carry it and can have no signs of illness,” Robak said. “When those wild birds come in contact with domestic birds, that’s when the virus can really cause a lot of destruction in domestic poultry because poultry does not have the built resistance to this virus.”
HPAI has a 90% to 100% mortality rate within 24 to 48 hours, so farmers euthanize their entire flock once birds test positive, said Amy Reid, owner of Jakes Farm, a poultry, pork and produce farm, in Hesperus. There is no cure and no vaccine.
“Thank God, it wasn’t us, but I feel bad for whoever it was,” she said. “We’ve been dreading this day.”
As of Thursday, nearly 31 million birds have been affected this year by the virus, either dying from the virus or being euthanized, according to the USDA. Nationally, 29 states and 221 producers have experienced outbreaks.
The USDA first reported a case of HPAI in a wild American wigeon in South Carolina on Jan. 14. It marked the first time since 2016 that a wild bird had been confirmed positive for the disease in the U.S.
Since then, avian influenza has spread across the country. It was first detected in a commercial flock in an Indiana turkey farm on Feb. 9, moving to Kentucky, New York and Maine next.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture announced the first cases of HPAI in Colorado in Pitkin County on April 9. Of the 36 animals in the flock, 35 died of the virus. The flock had been exposed to sick waterfowl in previous days. Tests confirmed avian influenza on April 8.
More than 60,000 birds at a commercial facility were euthanized after positive cases in Montrose County a little more than a week later.
Reid, who has anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 birds on her farm at any one time, has been watching HPAI move steadily across the country and preparing for the possible arrival of the disease in La Plata County.
“We knew it was coming. We just kept seeing it go state to state,” she said. “When I saw that it hit Texas, I was like, ‘Oh, no,’ because those birds are migrating up. It was just a matter of time.”
In recent years, Reid has been transitioning her flock to free-range grazing. However, that exposes them to wild birds where they are at risk of catching avian flu. The disease can be transmitted to domesticated birds through direct contact or through fecal matter. It can be as simple as a wild bird and poultry eating the same feed.
But it can also be tracked and spread through equipment, vehicles and even shoes and clothes.
To prepare, Reid has moved feed inside and had to find a balance between outdoor exposure where her poultry can come into contact with wild birds and indoor spaces where disease can spread rapidly. Jakes Farm already employs a closed water system so birds don’t come into contact with standing water.
“We’re using as much of the resources that we have to keep everybody covered without having to enclose them in barns,” she said. “We’re trying to work in the middle as best we can.”
While avian flu is not a food safety risk (poultry and eggs can be safely eaten when cooked properly) and no cases have been detected in people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, humans can serve as an important vector for the disease.
There are several steps producers and the public can take to limit the spread of avian disease, including moving food and water indoors and suspending farm tours and visits, Reid said.
But arguably the most important precaution is changing shoes. Reid has been in touch with the Durango Farmers Market to ask that any vendors not wear their farm boots to the market and any customers who have potentially been exposed to wild birds not wear those shoes to avoid spreading avian flu.
“The shoes is the easiest thing that we can ask people to do at this point, just pay attention to not tracking stuff with your shoes,” Reid said.
For farmers who lose their flocks to HPAI, the USDA offers financial assistance. Robak said Colorado Crisis Services and the Colorado Agricultural Addiction and Mental Health Program can also help bird owners who are struggling with mental health because of HPAI.
“This is really hard for people, especially when they have backyard flocks. Those animals become part of the family, and we know that this is really taxing on people emotionally,” Robak said. “There are definitely resources available for people who are struggling with anxiety or stress around HPAI.”
Community awareness is critical to prevent the spread of disease and limit the impacts on farmers, Reid said.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize what’s going on,” she said. “I’ve talked to a lot of farmers, who are like, ‘Oh, we don’t have poultry, so it’s not a concern.’ But you could still track it. We need the community to try to practice safety and the biosecurity for us. It’s a big deal.”
ahannon@durangoherald.com
