Arizona state officials have confirmed the first cases in the American Southwest of an outbreak of bird flu that has killed 37 million birds on commercial farms in the central and eastern United States.
The disease was detected after tests by federal wildlife authorities on three wild cormorants that were found dead in a park in Scottsdale, a Phoenix suburb, officials with the Arizona Game and Fish Agency said this week.
The disease has not yet been found in domestic poultry or commercial operations in the state, the agency said.
But it is concerning, said Glenn Hickman, president and CEO of Hickman Family Farms, one of the largest egg producers in the American Southwest. Hickman operates four chicken farms in Arizona, one in California and two in Colorado.
The company has suspended visits to its farms and re-examined its biosecurity program, which is designed to prevent an estimated 2 million chickens from becoming infected. He keeps his chickens in sheltered barns so no wild birds can get in, and all people and tools that come in are disinfected.
The company recently suffered a scare when bird flu was detected in a flock about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from one of its Colorado farms, Hickman said Thursday.
And while he says he’s worried about the discovery in Scottsdale, it’s not nearly as worrying as if a nearby business operation had an outbreak.
“Those are more alarming because the huge amount of virus produced when you have a large population is much higher than the relatively small amount of virus per bird in the wild bird population,” he said. None of his farms have been affected.
The Arizona Game and Fish Agency has been closely monitoring the disease, which prior to this week’s announcement had only reached Colorado. The agency has responded to all reports of dead birds.
As of June 3, bird flu had been detected in wild birds in 40 states, but not in Arizona, California, Nevada or New Mexico. Commercial farms in 19 states have been infected.
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