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Preparing for another (possible) battle with avian flu

 

chickens-nccThe possible reemergence this fall of the avian influenza virus is the focus of a poultry industry conference taking place in Des Moines.

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack kicked off that conference on Tuesday.

“I want to thank the producers who are in the audience today,” Vilsack said. “I want you to know that we recognize and appreciate how difficult this has been for producers and their families. It’s why we have been working hard to try to deal with the onslaught of avian influenza and why we are taking steps to be prepared should it reemerge in the fall.”

Following his speech, Vilsack gave reporters an update on USDA’s efforts to develop and produce a vaccine for avian flu.

“The good news is that we’ve got the seed strain, which is basically the foundation for a vaccine, that is 100 percent effective on chickens,” Vilsack said. “We don’t know what the impact is for turkeys.”

Vilsack says USDA has given the seed strain to one company under a licensing agreement.

“They are going to do some additional tests and then they’ll begin the process of producing it,” he said. “I don’t want to say exactly how long that’s going to take, but I will tell you we’re in a much better space than we were, say, six weeks ago, when all we had was a vaccine that was 60 percent effective. And that’s really not good enough—you need something that’s 100 percent effective.”

There is disagreement in the industry over the use of a vaccine. Many chicken producers are concerned it could cause some foreign customers to stop imports of U.S. chicken.

AUDIO: Tom Vilsack taking questions from reporters at the avian flu conference

O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa contributed to this story.

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