June 25, 2013 - 6:49pm
by Bob Moritz
LITTLE ROCK — Three countries (click here) have stopped importing poultry from Arkansas because of an outbreak of avian flu in one commercial chicken house in Scott County, a possible blow to the state’s economy, a state agriculture official told lawmakers Tuesday.
Livestock and Poultry Commission Director Preston Scroggin said the outbreak of avian flu, discovered June 16 on a farm in the Boles Community, was contained to one chicken house and testing of all poultry within a 6.2 mile radius has been negative.
Scroggin said he hoped the three countries — China, Japan and Russia — will resume importing Arkansas poultry soon after a quarantine of all poultry within the affected area has been lifted, within about 90 days....
June 25, 2013
CHINA - Researchers in Nanjing are reporting work showing how to improve immunisation of ducks with inactivated H9N2 virus vaccine. (click here) As natural reservoirs of avian influenza viruses, waterfowl play an important role in the generation, spread and enzootic transmission of avian influenza, report Haihong Kang and colleagues at Nanjing Agricultural University in the journal, Poultry Science.
To prevent avian influenza in waterfowl through a simple, non-invasive and needle-free route, they immunised ducks orally with an inactivated avian influenza virus (H9N2; IAIV) combined with CpG DNA and high-dose glucose. They then investigated the local and systemic immune responses of the ducks. In addition, immune protection was assayed after viral challenge....
