February 9, 2004

China, Singapore Ban US Poultry Imports On Bird Flu Concerns

China and Singapore have banned imports of U.S. poultry following the discovery of bird flu at a chicken farm in Delaware.

Toby Moore, Vice President of Communications with the U.S.A. Poultry and Egg Export Council, or Usapeec, confirmed on Saturday that the two countries have imposed temporary bans on imports of U.S. poultry.

A poultry farm with 12,000 chickens located in Delaware tested positive for a strain of avian influenza that is lethal to chickens but not harmful to humans, Delaware Department of Agriculture officials announced Friday.

Usapeec's position is that this is an over-reaction to the news of a case of low-pathogenic avian influenza, Moore said. However, the problem with the bans is that there's a tremendous amount of product on the water bound for China, Japan and Korea, he said.

"We don't know what's going to happen, but I expect it to be subject to some delays," Moore said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service expects to have definitive tests from the National Veterinary Services laboratory in Ames, Iowa, on Monday to determine pathogenicity, Moore said. However, he added that "on very good authority" the initial sampling at the site (in Delaware) and clinical signs point to a low path strain, H7."

Avian flu is an airborne respiratory virus that spreads among chickens through nasal and eye secretions and manure.

According to Delaware animal health officials, while the virus poses a serious threat to the Delmarva (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) poultry industry, it is not the same strain causing the bird flu outbreak in Asia that has killed 18 humans.

According to the World Health Organization, the highly pathogenic form of avian influenza, known as H5N1 bird flu virus, has emerged in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos and South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Less pathogenic strains have been reported in the Taiwan province of China and Pakistan.