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The stress of avian influenza on poultry and people

Not only is avian influenza taking its toll on poultry, it is taking its toll on the people who work with those birds.  Carolyn Sheridan is a Registered Nurse and Clinical Director for AgriSafe in Iowa.  She lives in an area in Northwest Iowa and is surrounded by the virus.  As a nurse who works with farmer safety and health she is getting a lot of calls from people who want to know what kind of protective equipment to wear especially if they need to depopulate a facility.

Sheridan says health care providers, Extension Agents, USDA and the Centers for Disease Control are all good sources for facts and information.  She says poultry producers already take a number of protective measures when working in the barns but the need increases significantly when a flock has to be depopulated, the birds composted and the barns disinfected.

One big question right now is the longer-term ramifications for producers and others in the poultry industry.  There is the fear of whether their birds will become infected.  If they do, the reality of having to kill those birds they have worked so hard to raise. Sheridan says right now people are in the “crisis mode” and the “scared mode” and they are keeping busy with everything that has to be done.  At some point, they will have to come to term with the financial aspects, “when does that financial piece really hit you?  Is it next week, next month, next year?”  That reality is not limited to poultry producers but also impacts those who serve the industry from providing the feed to the processing plant.

Sheridan talks about the situation: