Duck farm Avian Flu

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has euthanized around 14 000 ducks at a Beamsville farm where a case of bird flu was detected last week. There were about a dozen workers in hazmat suits at the King Street farm in Beamsville today where some ducks tested positive for the Avian flu. The workers could be seen cleaning equipment to remove any chance of contamination.

The H5N2 Avian influenza discovered is a low pathogenic subtype, meaning it causes a milder illness in birds. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency even though it’s a milder strain they needed to act fast.

“It could mutate to become a highly pathogenic strain, which means that it could cause a huge amount of disease in the poultry and an influenza virus in it’s nature is very very contagious.”

Just last year, more than 40 million turkeys and chickens in the U.S. had to be destroyed after contracting the virus. Food safety officials have quarantined commercial farms within a 3km radius. Bird flu rarely affects humans and does not pose a risk to food safety when poultry and poultry products are properly handled and cooked. For Ontario, this is the first bird flu outbreak in nine months.