By Robert Pore
The Independent
The Nebraska Department of Agriculture is alerting state residents of a potentially deadly poultry disease that was first spotted in California and has spread to Nevada.
Dr. Del Wilmont, deputy state veterinarian, said Exotic Newcastle disease is not normally found in the United States. The disease was first diagnosed in game birds in the Los Angeles area last October. It has now spread to many different species of birds and commercial poultry flocks and has been found in four California counties and one county in Nevada. Those areas have been quarantined and no poultry is allowed in and out of those counties.
As a result of the outbreak, authorities in California have depopulated 700,000 birds in an effort to eradicate the disease.
Wilmont said Nebraska authorities put out the alert about Exotic Newcastle disease last week because the extent of the disease is still unfolding. "We want to prevent the spread of the disease into Nebraska because it not only would have a devastating effect on poultry flocks, but it would affect economic trade by preventing exports of poultry into other countries," he said.
According to the Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Service, current information has the state with an estimated 11.5 million chickens for egg production. Based on 2001 estimates, Nebraska had 3.4 million broilers. The Nebraska Turkey Growers Cooperative in Gibbon annually processes about 4 million turkeys, which are raised by its growers members in Nebraska and Kansas.
Exotic Newcastle disease is a virus that often causes clinical signs in birds ranging from gastrointestinal signs, such as diarrhea, to neurological signs, such as twisted necks and poor coordination, and respiratory distress.
The disease doesn't affect humans, but they can be carriers of it. Wilmont said Exotic Newcastle disease is different from the West Nile virus, which spread to Nebraska last year.
"They are totally different diseases," he said.
Wilmont said West Nile is spread by mosquitoes, while Exotic Newcastle disease is spread by direct contact among infected birds.
"Usually it is spread from bird to bird or someone being in contact with manure or nasal discharge from a bird with the disease," he said. The disease is not confined to poultry, but can infect a lot of different species of birds, Wilmont said. With West Nile virus, the disease spread across the country after migratory birds were infected with the virus by
mosquitoes. But Wilmont said historically wild birds have not played a role in the spread of Exotic Newcastle disease.
"A bird could theoretically spread it, but what we are seeing is that it is spread from bird-to-bird contact," he said. "It started in backyard flocks and has spread from there. It can also be spread by people who have been around birds with disease. But wild birds don't seem to play a big role in Exotic Newcastle."
Wilmont said there have been outbreaks of Exotic Newcastle before in the United States and wild birds didn't have an important role in the spread of the disease. To his knowledge, there has never been an outbreak of Exotic Newcastle disease in Nebraska.
Wilmont speculated that if Exotic Newcastle disease were introduced in Nebraska, it would be by someone who came into the state from an area where there was an outbreak.
He said that movement of any type of birds out of the quarantined areas in California and Nevada would be illegal and would pose a threat of spreading the disease elsewhere.
Wilmont said along with the commercial poultry industry in Nebraska, there are a lot of backyard flocks in the state and people raise poultry for exhibition and showing purposes as a hobby.
He said Nebraskans are being asked to keep an eye out for any unusual clinical signs or unexplained mortality and should contact the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, 800-831-0550, to report any such incidents. Also, any unusual incidents may be reported to Dr. Grasso Ebako of the University of Nebraska Diagnostic Center at (402) 472-1434.