A state emergency order will be in place in Michigan starting May 8th, Wednesday, in order to stop the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.
Even though it hasn't affected people yet, HPAI has had an effect on the
state's income and its ability to produce eggs and meat. The head of the
Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development says problems could
get worse if nothing is done.
"Michigan's been in the unique position of dealing with a pretty
significant HPAI outbreak both in a number of fair herds here in the state, but
a number of poultry operations as well - some commercial egg laying facilities,
some turkey farms," said the director.
Most of the time, farmers have problems in the middle of spring that are caused
by the weather, like too much rain or crops freezing on cold nights. This year,
though, it's the bird flu.
"Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been around the country for a
couple of years now, but what makes this latest outbreak really significant is
the fact it is now very prevalent in dairy cattle across the country," he
said.
Farmers in Michigan are having a hard time because the latest form of HPAI has
reduced their activities and made animals sick.
To stop the disease from spreading, the state will carry out an emergency order
that will put protection measures in place and keep an eye on people who are on
farms that are likely to be infected.
"We continue to know that this virus is spread through people and vehicle
movement, so we’ve called on poultry and dairy facilities across the state to
be implementing some essential bio-security practices for the cleaning and
disinfecting, tracking who is on facilities, identification of a biosecurity
manager," he said.
Boring also said that it will change what the Michigan fair season looks like
this summer.
"We want to stop poultry shows until there has been a negative test in the
state for 30 days." "And you won't be able to bring dairy cows that
are nursing to the fair," he added.
The chief made it clear that it is not yet a public health issue.
"Pasteurization is still an effective way to stop the virus from getting into
milk." Except for one farmworker in Texas, no one else is getting sick
from this virus, Boring said.
More work will be done by the state to figure out what effect the spread will
have on farmers in Michigan.
