Virus hits Sanilac (Michigan) fair; vets to euthanize all 4-H chickens

[John W Blehm]

Virus hits Sanilac fair; vets to euthanize all 4-H chickens
Liz Shepard, Times Herald 10:59 a.m. EDT August 26, 2016

April Malick has been involved with the Sanilac County 4-H Fair for about a decade.

This week has been by far the worst.

“I had to look at 100 kids and tell them their birds had to be put down...you have no idea how it was,” said the fair’s superintendent of poultry.

The decision to euthanize all of the chickens brought to be shown by youths came after one was confirmed to have infectious laryngotracheitis, a respiratory disease triggered by stress and highly contagious between chickens.

Malick said the bird arrived to the fairgrounds near Sandusky early Sunday healthy, but by later that day it was showing symptoms.

She called the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, which sent a vet who tested and confirmed the disease.

Malick said about 130 poultry entries came to the fair. The about 25 ducks, pigeon, geese and turkeys will not be euthanized.

“This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with,” she said.

There will be no poultry showing this week.

Malick said the decision to euthanize the bird was not taken lightly. The state had issued the barn under a 14 day quarantine to see if any other chickens showed symptoms.

“The kids at the 4H group, and being poultry enthusiasts, we all decided it needed to end here, it needed to stay here,” she said.

Kids have been taking turns tending to the birds, wearing gloves and practicing other steps of “bio-security,” Malick said.

Because carriers of the disease don’t always show symptoms, Malick said there was concern it would be taken to home flocks and spread throughout the state.

“They’ve been exposed to the virus, so they’re always going to be a carrier,” she said of the other birds.

Malick said the youth all backed the decision to stop the spread of the disease through euthanizing the chickens.

“I was proud of the kids, it was a tough decision,” she said.

The birds are expected to be euthanized today.

Colleen Wallace, Sanilac County 4H program coordinator, said proper protocall was followed to minimize the impact.

“As bad and as tragic as it is, if we took these birds home, and exposed the rest of our flocks, the entire flock would be latent carriers,” she said.

Wallace said education about species-to-species diseases and species-to-human disease transmission has been part of education offerings for the youth. She said now the youth want to learn even more to help prevent such incidents.

“I’m absolutely astonished at the maturity,” Wallace said.

Malick said poultry numbers were low this year, as in 2015 birds weren’t allowed to be exhibit anywhere in the state to prevent the spread of avian flu.

Contact Liz Shepard at (810) 989-6273 or lshepard@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @lvshepard.

[Mike Gilbert]

What if these birds had been vaccinated prior to developing L.T. symptoms with the killed vaccine Twin City Poultry Supplies and others offer?    Does anyone know if they would still be considered carriers?

[John W Blehm]

Vaccinated birds shouldn't develop ILT symptoms if it was with LT-IVAX®.  I assume they would only be carriers in the same regard that people, equipment, water and anything with the virus on it would be.  There would be no reason to kill the properly vaccinated birds, but they should be bathed before returning to home flocks just as people, cooping, etc. should be.

LT-IVAX®

LT-Ivax vaccine is a live virus vaccine containing a carefully selected infectious laryngotracheitis virus strain modified by passage in tissue culture. This vaccine contains a very mild attenuated virus. For use in chickens 4 weeks of age or older, as an aid in preventing infectious laryngotracheitis through immunization by the EYE-DROP METHOD.

Advantages
•Solid and uniform protection against infectious laryngotracheitis when administered via eye-drop
•Safe – more attenuated than CEO vaccines, has not been associated with vaccine-induced outbreaks
•Has been shown to not spread from bird to bird in challenge-based contact controlled studies

Overview of Infectious Laryngotracheitis in Poultry

[Russ Blair]

I have never vaccinated for anything. With the thought that they would naturally weed out the succeptible ones. Now I am starting to think again about my methods.

[Rebecca G Howie]

I almost think I will show a few of mine and then hear about something like this and loose my nerve about venturing my babies out.

 

[Mike Gilbert]

I believe the main culprit as far as losing birds  is L.T., along with Mareks     Both are easy and quite inexpensive to cull for.   Birds vaccinated in time are not carriers when you use the killed L.T. vaccine.

[Rebecca G Howie]

I went searching for vaccines and the smallest amounts are for 1000 birds. Can smaller quantities be found anywhere?

I am also confused about the killed or live vaccines. All I did find were the live virus

[Mike Gilbert]

Try Twin City Poultry Supplies.    That's where I get mine.

[John W Blehm]

I went searching for vaccines and the smallest amounts are for 1000 birds. Can smaller quantities be found anywhere?

I am also confused about the killed or live vaccines. All I did find were the live virus

A bottle will do up to 1,000 birds, so there is a lot of waste.
Instead of looking for live or killed vaccine I suggest getting one, like I posted above, that is TCO (tissue culture origin) and not CEO (chick embryo origin),  CEO may be more powerful, but can spread from bird to bird.

[John W Blehm]

I said...

It is available from Victor Hakes and Peter Brown.
It is important to only use a Tissue culture origin (TCO) ILT vaccine because they do not shed the virus...it won\'t go from bird to bird.  The Chicken embryo origin (CEO) vaccines are more powerful and can spread the virus.

I used to vaccinate, but don't anymore.  If you plan to vaccinate, do all chickens 4 weeks and older.  Vaccinate and then do it again in 6 to 8 weeks (follow directions with product).  If you do it annually, it is best to wait until your last hatch is at least 4 weeks old and so the 2nd dose will be before taking birds to shows.

[Rebecca G Howie]

John, thank you. I remember reading about a vaccine that caused the chickens to be carriers even though they were protected from the disease/virus, but could not remember which one.  There are a couple shows in Inverness, Florida every year, March and October. I will look into doing that if I decide to go to a show.

I re-read the Twin City Poultry description and it appears to also be a non-CEO vaccine and will not cause spread of virus.

I see I also have to do some planning and coordinate hatches, also.

[Mike Gilbert]

I re-read the Twin City Poultry description and it appears to also be a non-CEO vaccine and will not cause spread of virus.

The proprietor of Twin City, Victor Hakes, is always happy to answer any questions by phone.  He is good to deal with and a real nice guy in person. 

[Beth Curran]

Those poor kids! This scenario is my worst nightmare...

Something to consider with vaccines is that, even if the vaccine itself doesn't make the bird a carrier, it may not prevent it, either. The MG vaccine doesn't keep the birds from getting it, it just keeps them from getting sick. They can still carry it and infect other birds while appearing perfectly normal, an unsettling thought. I don't know if that is the case with LT, but something to check on.

Oh, and I agree, Victor is awesome!