By some measures, the ongoing bird flu outbreaks in British Columbia pale in comparison to the devastating outbreak of the disease in 2004 that killed 17 million birds.
But the enemy farmers and scientists now face represents an unprecedented challenge, experts say.
The current H5N1 strain “behaves very differently” from previous versions, says British Columbia’s chief veterinarian, Theresa Burns.
Unlike previous strains that were geographically isolated, the new threat is spreading across the country. The strain is highly pathogenic and can cause severe illness and death in birds.
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“The scale is completely different,” Burns said in an interview, compared to previous outbreaks in BC in 2004, 2009 and 2014.
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“In all of these other outbreaks, BC was the only province affected and it was only in the Fraser Valley. Now we’re seeing all of Canada, North America and Europe affected.”
This year, H5N1 has infected about 200 flocks with more than 3.5 million birds across Canada. Worryingly, wild bird deaths are on the rise, amid fears the disease has become endemic in Canada.
The disease, which has spread to Asia and Europe and can occasionally infect humans, emerged in Canada for the first time in six years when it was identified in Newfoundland in December 2021.
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Earl Brown, an influenza virologist at the University of Ottawa, said at the time that it was likely an infected waterfowl had been flown across the North Atlantic to Newfoundland.
Since then, further outbreaks have been detected in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.
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“This particular strain, the H5N1 virus, is causing increased mortality in many of our wild bird species, and when it enters poultry flocks, it is also causing increased mortality,” he said. said Burns.
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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, or CFIA, said it believes migratory birds are responsible for outbreaks in small and commercial poultry flocks. The latest available data from the agency shows that there have been 203 infected flocks across the country, affecting 3,632,000 birds, as of November 3.
It also reported 1,442 confirmed cases of bird flu in wild birds across Canada, but Burns said it’s likely much higher because it’s impossible to determine how many wild animals have died.
“For (bird flu) to be detected in a wild bird, first you have to find the carcass, then the carcass has to be submitted to the lab, and then it has to be tested. So we imagine there are a lot of birds that they could be dying and that we are not able to detect.”
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Ray Nickel, spokesperson for the BC Poultry Association’s Emergency Operations Centre, said farmers are now worried about the virus becoming endemic in wild bird populations.
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Bird flu is spread through contact with an infected bird or its droppings or nasal secretions. Farm birds that go outside are at the greatest risk because they can come into direct contact with infected wild birds or their feces.
Humans can also inadvertently bring the infection into a barn on their shoes or clothing.
Nickel said the scale of the spread of H5N1 has had one benefit: It has led to more coordination between farmers, CFIA and various levels of government.
“(Communication) is much bigger this year than ever before,” he said. “Now debates are happening nationally and internationally, rather than just at the individual provincial level.”
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Nickel, a commercial poultry farmer from Abbotsford and a member of the BC Chicken Marketing Board, said BC has not suffered terrible losses compared to other provinces and previous seasons.
The 2004 outbreak in the Fraser Valley, for example, involved the H7N3 strain, which spread to 42 commercial farms and 11 backyard chicken coops, prompting federal officials to order the mass culling of about 17 million of birds
CFIA statistics show that 28 flocks in BC, with 275,700 birds, have been infected with bird flu this year.
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“We’ve evolved to some extent in our industry to pay attention to biosecurity and keep our farms as safe as possible,” Nickel said. “We’re also not seeing a lot of historical issues that we used to be more concerned about (such as) spreading from one infected farm to another. Now, it seems to be happening more randomly.”
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Biosecurity and emergency management measures introduced after the 2004 outbreak helped control the spread of the virus in 2009 and 2014. Each outbreak has allowed the province and its farmers to improve and refine their response, Nickel said .
The poultry association has an emergency response team that operates under an incident command structure, similar to fire and police services, which allows the team to respond quickly when the flu is found, he said . Protocols include strict procedures around closed doors, changing clothes and shoes, and controlling entrances and exits.
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“I think the increased level of concern about biosecurity has become even more intense, not just in BC, but across the country,” Nickel said in an interview.
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However, he warns that the demands and requirements of the emergency response team are generating burnout among members.
“We are getting tired. It’s exhausting to be around all the time,” Nickel said. “We have to rethink how we’re going to handle this going forward.”
Canada currently has a “culling policy,” meaning birds are culled when the virus is detected in a flock, Burns explained.
“There are actually two reasons: the birds are very sick and there is no viable treatment to prevent the spread,” he said.
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But experts around the world are debating whether a bird flu vaccine would be a viable solution.
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“Given the unprecedented nature of this outbreak, vaccination is certainly being reviewed as a possible control strategy internationally,” Burns said.
“At this time there are no vaccines licensed in Canada for poultry and that’s because so far, lethal elimination has been our best course of action, (but) the CFIA is working with international partners to continue this discussion on vaccination.”
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Considerations about whether a vaccine would work include the method of administration, cost, and the risk of vaccinated birds spreading the virus undetected.
“So there are some real challenges with vaccination and we need to really understand them before we can determine if it’s a viable strategy and of course the CFIA would make those decisions,” he said.
The CFIA said no human cases have been detected in Canada and the disease is not considered a major health concern for healthy people who are not in regular contact with infected birds.