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Local health expert and farmer react to bird flu outbreaks

By Giselle Valentin

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    BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. (WBND) — The bird flu has made headlines due to its impact on both wild and domestic birds. But what does this mean for public health?

This comes as bird flu cases among animals has been reported locally in La Porte and Stark counties.

Although the current risk to humans remains low, health officials say it’s crucial to stay informed and take preventative steps.

“The good news is we have steps that we can take everybody to prevent this virus from having as many opportunities to get into humans and then do those mutations,” Berrien County Health Department Epidemiologist Sarah Palmer.

The bird flu primarily infects birds like waterfowl and poultry but has also jumped to mammals, including dairy cattle and even humans.

Palmer says avoid drinking raw or unpasteurized milk, where high levels of the virus have been detected. She says properly cooked beef and eggs remain safe to consume.

She also says avoid handling dead or sick birds. If necessary, use gloves, eye protection, and a high-quality mask, and report many bird deaths to the Michigan or Indiana Departments of Agriculture.

The CDC is monitoring the H5N1 strain and preparing limited vaccine doses for high-risk groups if human transmission increases. The USDA has also implemented monthly milk testing on dairy farms, with Indiana and Michigan among the first states to adopt the program.

“It’s a situation that needs to be monitored right now. We just need to be on top of it and alert and gathering information and doing that surveillance and getting that data and just making sure people are working with us to limit those opportunities of the virus to get into people. It’s really not possible to predict any sort of pandemic thing right now, though. It’s, it’s not behaving in a way that’s making it seem likely that would happen. It’s just it is a possibility. And we can’t really say for sure how these viruses are going to mutate. That’s just too hard to predict. We just need to be prepared for different possibilities,” Palmer said.

The ongoing bird flu outbreak has led to the loss of over 20 million egg-laying chickens in the last quarter alone.

Owner of Bennett Farms, Thomas Bennett, says the rising prices are driving more customers to local, pasture-based farms where demand for fresh eggs has skyrocketed.

“Outbreaks like this increase demand from farms like ours. It makes our egg prices, which are typically a little higher to begin with, more competitive with the conventional egg price. Right now, our organic type, pasture-based eggs that we’re raising here locally are competitive with your confinement style grocery store eggs,” Bennett said.

The outbreak has primarily affected large-scale laying flocks responsible for grocery store egg supplies.

Though the boost in demand benefits business, the bird flu poses serious threats. Protecting pasture-raised flocks from the virus, Bennett says, is challenging.

He says his farm is considering halting the chicken crate rental service this season to reduce the risk of contamination.

Although he says his farm has not been affected by the virus, he has a plan ready if it ever does.

“But as of yet, we’ve not been affected by it. Where it’ll start to affect us will be once spring arrives and we produce about 25,000 chickens on pasture. When those chicks start coming in, we may, at that time, see a shortage, but we won’t know until that time gets there.”

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