May 5, 2004

 

 

Canada Duck Farm Tests Negative For Bird Flu Virus

 

Test results have confirmed the avian flu virus detected at a commercial duck farm in Chilliwack is not the same strain that has wreaked havoc on 40 chicken farms in the Abbotsford area.

 

Farm owner AJ Van Maren said yesterday that tests conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Association on his farm came back negative for the H7N3 and H5 virus.

 

"Now I have confirmation that it was a different virus, called H11," he says.

 

The CFIA was taking no chances last week and the Banford Road duck farm was placed under quarantine until results came through Monday.

 

"I think they definitely over-reacted," he said, during an interview Friday that was conducted at the entrance of his driveway due to the quarantine restrictions.

 

For one, his is a duck farm with no connection to the chicken farms where the virus of concern has been detected, he said, and second, those chicken farms are at least 25 kilometres away.

 

He also said the virus - which is not harmful to humans and is known to occur naturally in ducks - was detected in a pre-slaughter test never done before the Abbotsford outbreak.

 

None of his 20,000 ducks died as a result of the virus.

 

The quarantine imposed by the agency is "highly stressful to the birds," he added, and affected both egg and meat production because he was not allowed to bring feed onto the farm.

 

He could not estimate the dollar loss at this time.

 

Dr. Kiley said Friday there are several strains of avian flu, and it is known that ducks do carry a low-pathogenic variety.

 

Initial test results indicated the virus detected at the Chilliwack farm is not the "high pathogenic" strain, he said, but "we need to type this virus out completely to see what's going on here."

 

He also agreed there appears to be no physical link between the duck farm and the infected farms in Abbotsford.

 

"We're not seeing any linkage between the situation in Chilliwack (and Abbotsford)," he said.