homeland security progress

The CBRN agent I chose for this week is a Foreign Animal Disease (FAD) and how it can lead to a disruption in the nation's food supply and devastate the economy. FADs can be a number of different types, however for this week's post I will chose highly pathogenic avian influenza. These types of influenza can lead to a large death rate among flocks of water and land fowl. Some types have been known to spread to humans.

Avian influenza, or "bird flu", is a contagious disease caused by Influenza A viruses that normally infect only birds and, less commonly some mammals such as pigs. Avian influenza viruses can be highly species-specific, but have, on occasions, crossed the species barrier to infect humans and other mammals. The currently circulating H5N1 viruses represent a previously unrecognized type of avian influenza that is causing fatal infections in wild birds, domestic poultry, mammals like cats, and occasionally humans on a broad geographic scale.

Wild waterfowl are considered the natural reservoir of all non or low pathogenic influenza A viruses. They have probably carried influenza viruses, with no apparent harm, for centuries. However, in domestic poultry, infection with avian influenza viruses causes two main forms of disease, distinguished by low and high virulence. The so-called "low pathogenic" avian influenza (LPAI) commonly causes only mild symptoms (e.g. ruffled feathers, a drop in egg production) and may easily go undetected. The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) form is far more dramatic. It spreads very rapidly through poultry flocks, causes disease affecting multiple internal organs, and has a mortality that can approach 100%, often within 48 hours. Currently only some strains of viruses of the H5 and H7 subtypes are known to cause the highly pathogenic form of the disease in poultry (WHO, 2016).

The HPAI form can destroy flocks of chicken and turkeys due to it's virulence. To protect against these outbreaks there has to be strict surveillance of the flock for symptoms of the disease. In early 2016 there was an outbreak of HPAI in the midwest affecting flocks of turkeys on farms. The farms in Minnesota where the majority of poultry farms are, is of grave concern to the $750 million dollar industry. humans are the first and last line of defense in biosecurity involving these flocks. We have to do a better job of containing and minimizing the impact of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Chris

reference:

WHO, 2016. Avian influenza: food safety issues. retrieved from http://www.who.int/foodsafety/areas_work/zoonose/avian/en/index1.html