The Signal, CA

Birds Euthanized Due to Outbreak
http://www.the-signal.com/News/ViewStory.asp?storyID=2016

3/14/2003
Brian Franks [Signal Staff Writer]

A 1-kilometer area around William S. Hart Park in Newhall is under quarantine for the exotic Newcastle disease, after an outbreak forced the destruction of the park?s captive birds, officials said.

On Wednesday and Thursday, all birds in the park?s barnyard area were destroyed because some tested positive for the disease. Many more birds may have to be killed; over the next several days, federal officials plan to go door-to-door in the area surrounding the park to determine if additional birds must be destroyed.

Hart Park Superintendent Norm Phillips said he and his staff are mourning the loss of the park?s 37 birds, which had been quarantined from the public since December. The park?s birds included 19 chickens, seven ducks, seven geese, three turkeys and a pheasant. A wild bird that was being housed at the park as confiscated evidence was also destroyed.

?It is very disheartening,? Phillips said. ?We try not to get attached to the birds, but when you feed them every day, you can?t help but get attached.?

Phillips said members of the park?s staff called the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday after they noticed that Birdzilla, a turkey who had been at the park for nearly 20 years, was displaying possible symptoms of the disease. He said the USDA then came to the park and tested three of its hens, all of which tested positive.

?On Wednesday the USDA came out. We knew what they were going to do, so we got ourselves ready,? Phillips said. ?We didn?t want the public to see, so we put (the birds) behind the barn. I asked for the test results. They were positive. I couldn?t watch.?

On Thursday, after receiving permission from the Department of Fish and Game, the confiscated wild bird was destroyed.

Phillips said the barnyard portion of the park will be closed to the public until the USDA sanitizes the area Monday.

?I advise anyone who owns birds not to come to the park until the quarantine is lifted,? Phillips said.

Larry Cooper, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said that over the next several days federal officials will go door-to-door to residences in the quarantined area, looking for other infected birds that may need to be destroyed.

?A veterinarian will appraise the bird and the probability that it was exposed to the disease,? Cooper said. ?If the veterinarian classifies it as a dangerous contact bird, it has to be euthanized unless the homeowner requests an appeal.

?People have the right of appeal, but if it is deemed to be infected, those birds are going to die anyway.?

Compensation is available for bird owners who have their birds destroyed by the USDA.

Newcastle disease, which does not affect humans, is a contagious and fatal viral disease that affects the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems of most species of birds. The death rate is nearly 100 percent in unvaccinated birds, and the disease can still infect and kill birds even if they are vaccinated.

Cooper said Newcastle is not a public health threat and does not affect the safety of poultry or eggs, but the disease can be unintentionally transmitted from one bird to another by humans and other animals.

He said owners of any species of bird inside the quarantined area are prohibited from moving their birds or poultry products out of the area without a permit from the USDA. Violators of the quarantine may be subject to fines of up to $25,000.

The discovery at Hart Park was the second known occurrence of the disease in the Santa Clarita Valley. In December the USDA destroyed all of the poultry at the Canyon Country Feed Bin after some of the birds were found to be infected. The owners were compensated, but nonetheless said the incident forced them to shut down permanently on Jan. 31 after nearly 50 years in business.

The last major outbreak of the Newcastle disease was in 1971, when 1,341 infected flocks were found and nearly 12 million birds were destroyed in California. There was also a small outbreak of the disease in 1998.

Then on Oct. 1, the disease was confirmed in the state again. California was then placed under a federal quarantine to restrict the movement of birds to try to stop the spread of the disease.

Since then, 13,207 premises have been quarantined in California, Nevada and Arizona. More than 2,000 of those premises in California contained infected birds and more than 3 million birds have been destroyed. Of those 2,000 sites, 395 were in Los Angeles County.

Cooper said as of February the USDA and the CDFA have spent more than $35 million on an intensive eradication program throughout the state.

He said the state?s quarantine and eradication program will continue until the disease is destroyed.

For more information or to report an outbreak of the Newcastle disease, call the California Department of Food and Agriculture at (800) 491-1899 or go online to www.cdfa.ca.gov.

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LA Daily News, CA

Article Last Updated: Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 6:46:53 PM PST

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20949%257E1242103,00.html?search=filter

Park's birds euthanized
Newcast local attraction
By Patricia Farrell Aidem
Staff Writer

NEWHALL -- Thirty-eight birds -- including an old turkey named Birdzilla -- were destroyed at Hart Park this week after the devastating exotic Newcastle disease infected the historic park's barnyard attraction.

The discovery prompted U.S. Department of Agriculture agents to walk door-to-door within a kilometer (0.62 miles) of the park to test birds for the disease that has swept across the southwest United States and so far has resulted in the destruction of more than 3.1 million birds.

"It's tragic," said Norm Phillips, superintendent of William S. Hart Park. "We've got little kids who want to come and see their favorite duck or turkey and they're not here any more."

Turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese and a pheasant were euthanized late Wednesday afternoon after park employees noticed that 20-year-old Birdzilla appeared disoriented, a sign of the disease, Los Angeles County parks officials said. A wild native chukar being held by the park as evidence in a U.S. Fish and Game case was euthanized on Thursday after permission was obtained, Phillips said.

The birds had been quarantined since fall after Newcastle became a threat in Southern California, Phillips said. Uncertain whether Birdzilla was simply exhibiting signs of old age, the tom was quarantined and the Agriculture Department alerted. Blood tests confirmed the worst.

"We did everything right, but it's so communicable," Phillips said.

While humans can't be harmed by Newcastle, they can carry the disease for up to 72 hours if they come in contact with an infected bird, he said.

The animal pens at Hart are being stripped of straw and other materials the birds came in contact with, and then disinfected by agents of the Agriculture Department's Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force.

Meanwhile, officials are walking door-to-door to homes and businesses, testing every bird from a canary in a cage to a chicken in a backyard pen. Federal law requires that those found to be infected be destroyed, said Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the task force.

Statewide, 12,937 properties have been quarantined, including 2,312 where birds were found to be infected.

At Hart, the staff is devastated, Phillips said. The birds, along with pigs, goats, a deer and horses, have drawn youngsters and their parents to the park for decades. Children feed the animals, watch them grow and see their offspring. The entire display is closed during the disinfection process.

"The birds, they all had their little names. We've raised most of them since they were eggs," Phillips said. "Birdzilla, he's been here about 20 years. He was quite a guy. We had a duck named Aflac; he had the same personality as the one in that commercial."

The park was bequeathed to Los Angeles County by silent screen star William S. Hart, who lived in a mansion on the grounds until his death in 1946. Hart's fondness for animals inspired the county to keep live animals at the park.

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Union-Tribune, CA

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20030314-9999_1mi14briefs.html

March 14, 2003
VALLEY CENTER
More birds with Newcastle disease found

Two more cases of exotic Newcastle disease were found here among backyard or pet birds this week.

The new cases brought the total in the county to 17, five of which were commercial poultry ranches – four in Valley Center and one in Ramona. Of the cases among backyard or pet birds, 10 have been in Valley Center, one in Escondido and one in Ramona.

Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said a sixth commercial poultry ranch may be infected, but that the task force was waiting for tests to confirm its suspicions. Testing of commercial ranches is done weekly, he said.

Task force members have been going door to door in neighborhoods where exotic Newcastle has been found, checking for birds kept in back yards and inside homes.

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North County Times, CA

http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030314/54218.html

A sixth farm?
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer

There were reports late Thursday that a sixth farm in the region has been infected with Exotic Newcastle disease, although a spokesman for the state-federal task force fighting Newcastle said he could not confirm the reports. He said that the farm in question ---- not identified ---- may in fact be infected with avian influenza or some other illness. Tests were said to be continuing.

A mild strain of avian influenza broke out in California in February 2000. It is a distant relative of Newcastle, but birds infected with the strain tend to recover in a couple of weeks.

3/14/03

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North County Times, CA

http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030314/54155.html

Feed stores feeling effects of Newcastle outbreak
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer
The number of sites infected with Exotic Newcastle Disease seems to be growing every day, causing many millions of dollars in damage. But there is another industry being hit hard, too, as a result of the disease ---- the feed stores.

"It's hurting," said Suzy Hawthorne, who owns Hawthorne Country Store in Escondido with her husband, Brian. "It's hurting big time."

So far, more than 450,000 commercial chickens have been killed at five poultry ranches in San Diego County, and the disease has been confirmed in 11 backyard flocks. Most of the infections are in the Valley Center area, although one commercial farm, Ramona Egg Ranch, and one backyard flock were found in Ramona, and another backyard flock in Escondido has been infected.

The state-federal task force set up to fight the disease has so far spent more than $35 million on killing birds and cleaning up infected sites. It is unclear how much the outbreak will cost farmers and backyard bird owners. And as the number of sites grows and more backyard chickens are killed, the effect on feed stores increases.

The Hawthornes, like many other feed-store owners in the area, are not carrying baby chicks this year, and have put a foot bath near the front entrance to their store.

In a normal spring, Suzy Hawthorne said, she would sell about 1,000 chicks a month and about 50 grown hens. The store also would sell about 3,000 bags of chicken feed a month. This year, it is averaging 2,000, Brian Hawthorne said.

"At this time of year, I'd be selling 20 bags of chick starter a week, and I'm selling maybe one," Suzy Hawthorne said Wednesday.

The Hawthornes are not the only feed-store owners who have decided to stop carrying chicks after Exotic Newcastle was found in Ramona Egg Ranch in December.

Many others, such as Bear Valley Farm Supply and Terry's Hay and Grain in Valley Center and Gil's Feed in Vista, also aren't selling chicks this year.

Kim Laventure, who owns Bear Valley Farm Supply with her husband, Eric, and Larry Boyer, said the store normally runs a deal they call "Chick Days," when customers who buy 10 chicks get a free bag of feed. But not this year.

The financial effects, Kim Laventure said, will be small at first, but could hurt the business later.

"You don't usually make money on the chicks," she said. "Where you make money is when the people feed them later on down the road."

She said she hopes to make up for the losses by running "Chick Days" in the fall, if the quarantine is lifted. So far, she said, the outbreak hasn't hurt business too badly.

"But if Valley Center turns into a total epidemic and they kill all the birds, it will really affect us," she said.

Boyer said about 5 percent of Bear Valley's sales come from chicken-related products.

"As with any retail outfit," he said, "profit margins are slim. Volume is the key."

Hawthorne Country Feed, however, has already begun feeling the impact of the disease.

Suzy Hawthorne said that the outbreak of the deadly avian disease, which affects all species of birds, but is especially deadly to poultry, has slowed sales of chicken feed and other supplies as well. Hawthorne said that in February, the store was down $10,000 from the year before. Although she attributed some of the decrease to a softer economy, she said much of the loss is a result of Exotic Newcastle disease.

Another store that has already seen a loss is Terry's Hay and Grain.

Store owner Joe Villavobos said he has seen a 10 percent to 15 percent drop in sales of poultry-related products since the outbreak began.

"I haven't looked at this month, but I suspect it will be a 20 percent impact, and I think it's going to be worse," he said. He said he has posted information on the disease and put foot baths near the store's entrance to help stop its spread.

The bright side, however, is that according to Suzy Hawthorne of Hawthorne Country Feed, sales at feed stores are seasonal, and although her spring sales may be down about 25 percent from last year, the long-term effects won't be as bad.

"You do what you can do," Suzy Hawthorne said.

And for many stores, that means taking the financial losses and doing what they can to prevent the disease from spreading any further than the five commercial flocks and 11 backyard flocks that have already tested positive in North County.

Gil Lucero, owner of Gil's Feed, said he put up posters distributed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and several other state agencies to stop the disease. Lucero also is among the store owners who have put foot baths near the entrances to their stores.

At Cuttlebone Plus in San Marcos, chicken-oriented products make up "less than 1 percent" of sales, owner Dick Schroeder said. So for him, he said, sales have not changed much because the disease has not spread to too many exotic birds.

But that does not mean he's not taking precautions, he said.

"Rather than have trucks deliver to us, we go places to pick things up, like when we get feed," he said.

Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760) 740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com.

3/14/03

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Tri-Valley Herald, CA

Article Last Updated: Friday, March 14, 2003 - 3:11:25 AM PST

http://www.trivalleyherald.com/Stories/0,1413,86~10669~1243620,00.html

DNA test might be able to save state's fowl
Test for bioterror attacks may help stem Newcastle disease
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

With an exotic virus crippling state poultry exports to Europe and 23 countries, animal-health authorities are pinning new hope of stemming Newcastle disease on a DNA testing method originally pioneered for detecting bioterror attacks.

For weeks, Southern California poultry ranchers and backyard bird-raisers have watched as state and federal authorities in white suits destroyed 3.1 million birds suspected of carrying the highly lethal virus.

Exotic Newcastle disease poses no threat to humans and poultry products and hasn't yet passed the Tehachapi mountains into Northern California. But it threatens to outrun efforts at containment and, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, "constitutes a real danger to the national economy."

In the six to 12 days needed for a typical lab test to identify infected birds for eradication, the virus has drifted farm to farm, yard to yard, hitching a ride on the wind, trucks, shoes and perhaps even the gear of vaccination workers.

Now scientists at UC Davis, Lawrence Livermore Lab and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have devised a faster, more precise test based on DNA-finger- printing methods that Livermore perfected for sniffing out plague, anthrax and other dangerous human pathogens. Results are available overnight.

"As far as I can tell, it is a very good and accurate test. It has high specificity and high sensitivity," said Dr. Greg Cutler, a Southern California veterinarian who credits the new test with saving a ranch flock from eradication.

The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis is running up to 200 of the new tests a day as state and federal experts check more flocks. They are moving into Stanislaus and Fresno counties, where growers for poultry giants Tyson Foods and Holly Farms raise broilers and egg-laying chickens.

"The faster we can detect and move into control, the less economic impact this disease is going to have," said Sharon Hietala, a professor of clinical immunology at the Davis lab and co-developer of the test. "If we can respond more rapidly to the infection, the California Department of Food and Agriculture can make decisions to contain, quarantine or destroy the flock in days instead of weeks."

The test relies on polymerase chain reaction or PCR, a common method of multiplying and analyzing DNA in great detail. Livermore scientists use powerful computers to compare the DNA sequences of pathogens with those of close genetic kin. Further experiments nail down the DNA regions or "signatures" that are unique to the pathogen. Scientists then draw up an assay or recipe that includes fluorescent probes that light up to signal the segments' presence.

Livermore assays are the underpinning of the Bush administration's new Bio-Watch system, a network of biodetectors being installed on air-pollution monitors in 20 major U.S. cities.

The task was a little different with exotic Newcastle disease, because its chromosome is made of RNA rather than DNA and because close cousins of the virus were hard to find.

"These are very interesting creatures," said Paula McCready, head of Livermore's DNA signature team. "They mutate very quickly so it's very difficult to find those regions that are unique to the virus."

With a PCR test, McCready said, "We can find out whether the organisms are gone and can certify when we have a disease-free state."

The test spared 170,000 layer hens in Riverside County that USDA officials had slated for "depopulation" or euthanasia. The standard test, in which lab workers inject tissue of potentially infected birds into eggs and wait for the virus to multiply inside, showed the birds had a virus in the same family as exotic Newcastle.

"Everyone was all upset, saying, 'Hey, we've got Newcastle here,'" recalled Cutler, the rancher's vet. "They had already quarantined the place and they were looking toward depopulating. I said, 'Hey, wait, let's look at the real-time PCR.'"

Tissue samples were flown to Davis and tested in Hietala's lab. The results showed the presence of a nonvirulent vaccine strain, as Cutler suspected, not exotic Newcastle disease.

"Within four hours we knew it wasn't exotic Newcastle disease," Cutler said.

The test itself costs about $7.50 to perform. Cutler figures it saved the federal government about $850,000 in payment to the rancher for his birds.

Contact Ian Hoffman at ihoffman@angnewspapers.com

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Contra Costa Times, Contra Costa County

Posted on Fri, Mar. 14, 2003

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/5390431.htm

Test finds bird virus quicker
By Taunya English
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

LIVERMORE - A rapid-read test developed by scientists from Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and UC Davis is one of the newest tools in the fight to curtail the spread of an infectious bird virus that has caused poultry quarantines in Southern California and Nevada.

Exotic Newcastle disease is highly contagious and nearly always fatal to birds but does not threaten human health, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The "no movement" quarantine is pinching California's $1.4 billion poultry industry and has affected 17 production facilities. Scientists hope the tests can be used to routinely screen unaffected poultry flocks once Newcastle disease has been fully checked.

"The industry is huge in California and we are a food supplier nationally and internationally," said Livermore lab geneticist Paula McCready. To get back in business, "you have to prove your area and animals are disease-free."

Since exotic Newcastle struck Southern California in October, nearly 3 million commercial egg-producing chickens have been euthanized statewide. By February the disease containment effort reached $35 million, the agriculture department reports.

When Newcastle first struck, the standard screening method required that a specimen from a bird be inoculated in eggs for days before it could be analyzed. The new Livermore lab and UC Davis technique can recognize the virus from the barest essentials of a specimen and cuts the detection time to just four hours.

Exotic Newcastle spreads rapidly through bird droppings, breath and eggs and can decimate a flock. Chickens are especially susceptible to the disease and the respiratory problems and lethargy that accompany the illness.

Before 2002, the disease had not been found in the United States since 1971.

Sharon Hietala, a professor with the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, calls exotic Newcastle the "foot-and-mouth disease of the poultry industry."

Detection delays equate to lags in isolating infected animals and controlling the disease. Delays also result in more reimbursements to farmers whose animals or eggs are destroyed.

UC Davis and Livermore lab have a long-standing relationship, but in this case the lab harnessed its human genome and homeland-security bioterrorism expertise to focus on the problem of finding a quicker detection method for the bird virus.

McCready said her team looked for genetic markers unique to the exotic Newcastle virus but different from other Newcastle viruses endemic to the United States. The accuracy of the rapid, genomic-approach test was also verified through sequencing, or identifying particular pieces of DNA.

Hundreds of bird specimens are tested with the new technique each day, Hietala said. And those rapid tests are being validated with the older inoculation methodology, she said. With each identical result, the evidence mounts that the scientists have developed a dependable, low-cost and speedy detection test.

Since October, two rapid tests have been developed; one of them to pinpoint the highly pathogenic Newcastle virus.

Authorities recently quarantined a flock of Southern California birds that officials suspected where infected with Newcastle. But before the birds were killed, the rapid test uncovered the vaccine strain and avoided a near $1 million indemnity for the flock.

"You can imagine the relief that farmer felt," she said.

Reach Taunya English at 925-743-2216 or tenglish@cctimes.com.

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EurekAlert, DC

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-03/uoc--end031303.php

Public release date: 13-Mar-2003
Contact: Stephen Wampler
925-423-3107
University of California - Berkeley
Exotic newcastle disease

LIVERMORE-- Newly developed rapid diagnostic assays to detect exotic Newcastle disease developed by a partnership of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other institutions have "significantly aided" containment of the poultry disease. That's the view of professor Alex Ardans, director of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory based at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Design and development of the assays have been done by a team from the Laboratory, the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory (or CAHFS) at UC Davis and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At the time of the outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease last October in California, available assays to identify the disease required 6 to 12 days, according to Ardans.

A key signature that allows identification of the virus within four hours of receiving the sample was facilitated by a genomic-approach developed by an eight-member LLNL team, led by Paula McCready.

"The ongoing collaboration between LLNL and UC Davis doesn't only benefit the state of California, but also the nation," Ardans said. "The Livermore approach to developing assays for microbial diseases is being embraced nationwide."

The rapid tests are being used to assist state and federal exotic Newcastle disease task force personnel in disease detection and control efforts.

During the past five months, almost 3 million commercial egg-producing chickens have been euthanized in California because of exotic Newcastle disease. Additionally, more than 100,000 game birds and backyard poultry also have been euthanized.

Currently, seven counties, all in Southern California, are under quarantine, with a prohibition on moving poultry such as chickens, turkeys, geese, partridges and other birds.

Ardans believes federal and state agriculture officials are making headway in the fight against exotic Newcastle disease. During the past two weeks, the number of new cases of infected "backyard birds" seems to be decreasing in some areas, he noted.

A highly lethal viral ailment, exotic Newcastle disease affects poultry, causing respiratory problems and lethargy. Chickens are particularly susceptible to the disease and usually die within a few days.

"With the faster detection method, we can rapidly identify the affected animals and isolate them before the disease spreads further," said McCready.

"If an outbreak is not quickly contained, it spreads rapidly, affecting the state's poultry industry and its ability to trade with other states and countries."

Laboratory researchers were contacted by CAHFS on Oct. 13, and within days had generated possible target signatures for development of a rapid assay.

LLNL biomedical scientist Evan Skowronski worked with CAHFS staff at UC Davis over the next two months to optimize performance of the assays and pioneer ways to rapidly process hundreds of samples per day. Skowronski was instrumental in sequencing the first viruses isolated from commercial flocks to confirm the accuracy of the assay.

In addition to disease identification in affected birds, the rapid test is now being used routinely in surveillance efforts in unaffected commercial flocks to assure their disease-free status.

These efforts involving nearly 600 different poultry houses will continue after the outbreak is contained as a disease surveillance program to demonstrate that the state is free of the disease.

"We were able to make a rapid response to an outbreak of an emerging disease," said McCready, who is associate program leader for biology in the Chemical and Biological National Security Program.

The team's computations group, led by Tom Slezak, used unique software developed by Laboratory researchers to identify a target sequence to distinguish the highly virulent forms of the virus from other forms.

This has been extremely useful in the rapid differentiation of exotic Newcastle disease virus from closely related Newcastle disease viruses used in vaccines or those causing less severe disease.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first working rapid assay for Newcastle disease to be adapted for routine diagnostic and surveillance use," McCready said.

The development of this exotic Newcastle disease signature and the additional work required to ready it for use was paid for with Laboratory Directed Research and Development money, a Laboratory fund for cutting-edge research.

In addition to McCready, Skowronski and Slezak, other members of the Laboratory assay development team include bioinfomatics scientists Beth Vitalis, Tom Kuczmarski and Shea Gardner, along with biomedical scientists Shanavaz Nasarabadi and Jason Olivas. Funded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a national security laboratory, with a mission to ensure national security and apply science and technology to the important issues of our time. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.

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North Coounty Times, CA

Another backyard flock of diseased chickens is found
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer

http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030313/54236.html

Task force officials said Wednesday that the presence of Exotic Newcastle Disease had been confirmed in another backyard flock in San Diego County, bringing the total number of infected sites in the county to 16.

And late Wednesday there was a report from one well-placed source that a sixth poultry ranch --- the fifth in Valley Center --- had been found to be infected. The report could not be confirmed.

Although an official at the state-federal task force set up to fight the disease declined to say where the new backyard flock was located, it is believed also to be in Valley Center. The task force said last week that there was one infected backyard flock in Ramona and one in Escondido, and that the rest were in Valley Center.

Task force spokesman Larry Cooper said Wednesday that there is still only one infected flock in Ramona and one in Escondido.

The newest confirmation brings the total number of backyard flocks with the disease to 11.

Cooper said he did not know how many birds were in each flock, but task force records show that so far in California, 123,454 backyard birds have been "depopulated," or killed. It puts the number of backyard premises affected by the disease at 2,116 backyard premises, meaning each premises had an average of 58 birds.

There has been no change in commercial flocks with Exotic Newcastle, although a task force member said Wednesday that a sixth farm is suspected to have the disease. Test results are said to be expected sometime this week.

The disease affects every species of birds, but poultry is the most susceptible, with a nearly 100 percent mortality rate. It is spread through the mucus or feces of infected birds. Task force officials say it spreads so easily that in order to stop the disease, all birds at an infected site must be killed.

So far in California, more than 3.1 million birds have been killed.

In San Diego County, nearly 450,000 commercial chickens have been killed since the disease was discovered at Ramona Egg Ranch in January.

Four other commercial farms, all in Valley Center, tested positive in February. They are the Armstrong Egg ranches on Cole Grade and Lilac roads; Foster Enterprises, also known as Gross Ranch, on Cole Grade Road; and the Fluegge Egg Ranch, on Twain Way.

Exotic Newcastle was first found in a backyard chicken flock in Compton in October. It has now been found in commercial farms and backyard flocks in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. The federal quarantine includes those six counties, in addition to Imperial and Santa Barbara counties, which act as a "buffer zone."

The last time a large-scale outbreak of Exotic Newcastle hit California was 1971, and it took three years and $56 million to eradicate the disease. In that time, 12 million birds were killed.

Questions concerning the disease may be answered by calling the California Food and Agriculture Department at (800) 491-1899 or the U.S. Department of Agriculture at (800) 940-6524.

Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760) 740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com.

3/13/03

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North Forty News, CO

March 12, 2003
Birds should be tested for Newcastle disease

http://www.northfortynews.com/News/updates/20030312update_NewcastleDisease.htm

Several Colorado State University Cooperative Extension offices will be drop-off sites for birds that should be tested for exotic Newcastle disease as part of the Colorado Department of Agriculture's surveillance for the disease. Exotic Newcastle disease is a contagious and fatal viral disease that affects all bird species; however, it does not affect humans.

The disease has been detected in neighboring states, but has not yet been found in Colorado.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture is testing dead birds that exhibited symptoms of the disease in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading into Colorado. Twenty-four extension offices will have sanitary supplies available to collect samples that will be transported for testing. All of the offices have information about the disease.

Exotic Newcastle disease, one of the most infectious diseases among poultry in the world, kills many birds before they exhibit signs of the disease; nearly 100 percent of unvaccinated poultry flocks die if they contract the disease, and vaccinations cannot prevent death.

The disease affects caged birds such as parrots, as well as domestic fowl including chickens, ducks and geese. It also affects wildlife including pheasants and songbirds. The disease is easily spread through contact between healthy birds and infected birds, and by people who have had contact with infected birds.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture is encouraging people to submit deceased birds for testing if they exhibited signs of the disease. The disease affects the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems. Respiratory symptoms include sneezing, gasping for air, coughing and nasal discharge. Birds might also exhibit greenish and watery diarrhea as well as muscular tremors, drooping wings, twisting of the head and neck and complete paralysis. Other general symptoms are a drop in egg production, thin-shelled eggs, a swelling of the tissues around the eyes and neck and sudden death.

Anyone who has a bird that meets these symptoms should contact their local CSU Extension office about the drop-off point for their area. Most county offices have been supplied with disinfectants and materials to store samples, as well as information about the disease, but some will not be equipped to take samples.

Phone numbers for county extension offices are listed in the county government section of the local phone book. Residents may also contact the Colorado Department of Agriculture at 303-239-4161 or visit www.ag.state.co.us for more information about testing drop-off sites and the disease.

The CSU Cooperative Extension office on the college campus in Fort Collins will not be a drop-off site for samples.

The following Colorado State Cooperative Extension county offices are collecting samples to be tested for exotic Newcastle disease: Garfield, Eagle, Mesa, Delta, Montrose, Dolores, Montezuma, La Plata, Archuleta, Conejos, Costilla, Las Animas, Otero, Pueblo, El Paso, Prowers, Jefferson, Denver, Arapahoe, Adams, Morgan, Boulder, Larimer, Weld and Logan.

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Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/markets/newswire/2003/03/11/rtr904019.html

Ariz. chickens test negative for avian virus
Reuters, 03.11.03, 6:48 PM ET

PHOENIX, (Reuters) - Chickens believed to have been stricken by the same deadly poultry virus that has killed more than 3 million birds in three Western states died instead from a respiratory disease, Arizona agriculture department officials said Tuesday.
Tests revealed that 20 young chickens that died two weeks ago in Waddell, Ariz., did not have Exotic Newcastle disease as was first feared, said Rae Chornenky, a department spokeswoman. The results were confirmed at two federal laboratories.

A positive test would have heightened concerns about the disease spreading deep into Arizona's $63-million poultry industry.

The state has so far been spared any major damage, finding only one case on an Indian reservation in far western Arizona. Parts of three counties have been under quarantine since early February and a state of emergency has been declared.

A statewide ban on birds also has affected a variety of community events. For example, an ostrich festival held last weekend in the Phoenix area went birdless because of the disease threat.

Exotic Newcastle, which is fatal to fowl but not to humans, was first spotted in backyards flocks in California in October and spread to parts of Nevada and Arizona.

Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service

---

The Arizona Republic, AZ

Sick chickens did not have Newcastle virus, tests show
Betty Beard
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 11, 2003 02:50 PM

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0311virus11-ON.html

Diseased chickens near Goodyear have been found to not have the Exotic Newcastle virus, which means the state has gone five weeks without any new confirmed cases.

But a hotline has received hundreds of calls from people with sick chickens, and winter visitors in portions of Arizona under quarantine cannot leave the state with pet birds unless those pets have been tested and have received permission from the visitors' home states to return.

The negative test on the Goodyear chickens is good news given neighboring California is discovering new cases almost daily, said Rae Chornenky, legislative liaison for the state Department of Agriculture.

"With the amount of traffic back and forth and with this virulent disease, this is incredible," she said.

The disease doesn't hurt humans, and poultry and eggs sold in stores are safe, the Agriculture Department said. Most of the state's poultry comes from the South but most of the eggs sold in Arizona are produced in state.

The disease primarily affects poultry and can wipe out chicken flocks in days. California already has had to kill about 3 million chickens since October in efforts to contain the disease. Chicken and eggs sold in stores are safe.

About 20 young chickens in a backyard flock near 175th and Maryland Avenues became sick and died about two weeks ago, and a federal task force suspected Newcastle.

Now it appears the young chickens probably got some other respiratory virus, Chornenky said.

The disease was confirmed in western Arizona in early February and about 240 chickens had to be killed. Anyone in Arizona with a sick or dead chicken or bird is asked to call the END hotline at 1- (888) 742-5334. Hundreds of people have called, Chornenky said.

Meanwhile, live bird exhibits, competitions and displays remain banned in the state, and LaPaz, Yuma and southern Mohave counties in western Arizona are still under quarantine. Winter visitors in those counties who are getting ready to return home with pet birds are having to get their birds tested twice and to get permission from their state vets before they can leave.

Reach the reporter at betty.beard@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-7982.

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Las Vegas Sun, NV

Today: March 11, 2003 at 9:08:04 PST

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2003/mar/11/514780611.html?%2Bnewcastle+%2Bdisease

Experts to speak on bird disease
By Launce Rake

LAS VEGAS SUN

Clark County will host a call-in program at 7 p.m. on exotic Newcastle disease on cable Channel 4. The call-in number is 895-1195.

Two national experts on exotic Newcastle disease, a virus affecting domestic birds, will speak and take questions tonight about the impact the disease has had in Southern Nevada.

Dr. Reginald Johnson, a veterinary epidemiologist, and Dr. Henry Loper, a veterinary medical officer, will answer questions during a Clark County-sponsored television show on Cox cable Channel 4 between 7 and 7:30 p.m. Both experts are from the U.S. Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Inspection Service.

The disease has led to the death of hundreds of birds in a quarantine area that includes California, Arizona and Clark and Nye counties in Nevada. The disease, which first appeared in September in Los Angeles, kills more than 90 percent of birds that it infects, Johnson said Monday.

He said the disease is passed by people moving from areas with infected birds to other premises with birds, almost exclusively domesticated birds. One suspected contributor to the spread of the disease is the network of cockfighting in the Southwest, Johnson said.

Cockfighting is illegal in Nevada, but still occurs, authorities believe. Johnson said moving birds between the sites of cockfights is increasingly under scrutiny as a disease vector.

"Evidence to support that is mounting," he said. "At the very least, there are going to be some connections there."

Federal and state officials slapped a local quarantine on birds Jan. 16, after the infection was discovered in chickens near Nellis Air Force Base.

The state reported no new infections after mid-February, but Johnson cautioned that the quarantine restricting the movement of any domesticated birds is still in effect.

"It is still in effect and probably will be in effect until at least June 2003, maybe even beyond that," he said.

Violating of the quarantine could result in fines up to $600 and other civil penalties of up to $25,000.

Signs that birds are infected with exotic Newcastle disease may include coughing, sneezing, loss of appetite, a red swollen head, nasal discharge and depressed behavior. However, the surest sign of the disease is sudden death with no previous indication of illness, according to experts.

Johnson, based in Fort Collins, Colo., said the disease does not appear to pose a human health threat, although it has been linked to mild human eye infections in some cases.

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News 8 Austin, TX

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=64274&SecID=2

Poultry producers watch for Newcastle Disease
3/11/2003 11:59 AM
By: Heather Maze

A rare deadly disease that affects all types of birds struck California six months ago and continues to head east, which is a scary thought for poultry producers in Texas.

Poultry is the second-largest agricultural industry in the state. The latest statistics show it accounted for more than $1.3 billion in 2001.

The Texas Animal Health Commission is doing what it can to prevent Exotic Newcastle disease from striking Texas including distributing pamphlets to Texas Poultry producers and veterinarians to educate them about the disease.

If you have a sick bird, you're urged to take it to your vet. Some of the symptoms of Newcastle Disease include respiratory distress, coughing, nasal discharge, a swollen head and weakness.

The Serrato family has dozens of pet roosters and chickens.

"My husband gives them injections, gives them medicine, gives them vitamins," said Blanca Serrato.

The Serratos do what they can to keep their birds healthy, but they have yet to hear about Exotic Newcastle Disease.

Experts say the disease does not affect humans in any way, but infected birds have to killed in order to get rid of the virus. In California, after the birds are euthanized, they are put in a sanitary landfill. The deadly virus affects all species of birds to varying degrees. It spreads through the air from bird to bird.

"The devastation is in turkeys and chickens, pheasants, and that group," said veterinarian Terry Conger, of the Texas Animal Health Commission.

Conger is an epidemiologist with the Texas Animal Health Commission. He said Exotic Newcastle Disease struck California six months ago and spread to Nevada and Arizona.

Texas has since put a strict embargo on all birds entering the state and is closely watching for any signs of infection.

"We're encouraging all chicken producers who have sick birds to report it so we can examine them, take samples, and make a definitive diagnosis," Conger said.

The Tyson facility in Gonzales produces more than one million chickens each week. The manager said Exotic Newcastle Disease would be devastating to business and the economy because Gonzales is one of the top poultry producing counties in the state.

"It's not panic time," Conger said. Just time to bring awareness while experts do their part.

"Now 60 percent of the USDA personnel in the United State are on site in the quarantine zones in California, Nevada and Arizona to try to help curtail further spread," Conger said.

Stopping the spread of the disease could save millions of dollars in losses to poultry production in Texas. Not to mention the loss of many birds and pets.

---

Ukiah Daily Journal, CA

Article Last Updated: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 9:23:18 AM PST

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/Stories/0,1413,91%257E3089%257E1236429,00.html

Local crews fight SoCal chicken disease
By LAURA CLARK/The Daily Journal

Crews of firefighters and California Conservation Corpsmembers have set aside their normal job duties to help combat the outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease which has been spreading like wildfire in Southern California.

Since December, seven CCC crews from Ukiah and Leggett, as well as well as crews from throughout the state have been rotated to Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, with more than 150 corpsmembers currently participating in the response effort, according to Mark Covella, conservation administrator for Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

Incident command teams from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection which include three members from Mendocino County, and numerous others from around the state have also been assigned to work under the direction of the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assist in the eradication of this deadly bird disease.

"The CCC crews are involved in the cleaning and disinfecting of infected or exposed premises to prevent spread of the virus. Corpsmembers dress in special protective gear for their work to prevent the artificial spread of the virus on clothing, shoes, and other personal items. While the disease may be easily spread by infected birds to other birds, it poses no risk to human health and poultry and egg products are safe to consume," states a news release from the CCC.

About six weeks ago, CDF incident command teams were dispatched to Modesto to assist in the effort by providing command, planning and logistical support, which includes determining and tracking resource needs and helping develop a written plan.

Both agencies have been sending in alternating crews for two weeks stints.

Local CCC members are going to pull out in May or June, to start working on a salmon restoration project, according to Covella.

CDF incident command teams are expected to continue with the effort until April 1, at which time they will leave to prepare for fire season, according to Lloyd Johnson, Mendocino County CDF deputy chief.

To date, in California, Exotic Newcastle Disease has been found in LA, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties. There have also been cases found in Clark County, Nevada, and La Paz County, Arizona, according to Dave Bengston, Mendocino County agriculture commissioner.

As of March 6, in California, 2,998,703 chickens from commercial premises had been destroyed. Another 119,070 backyard chickens were also found carrying the disease. Those too, will be destroyed, Bengston said.

"In California we have it in the commercial chickens, but in Nevada and Arizona it hasn't gone into any commercial operations. Nevada has 137 premises affected; Arizona only has four; California has 17 commercial properties and 2,260 backyards affected," Bengston said.

(Backyard refers to all non-commercial birds, and includes everything from indoor house pets, to those in aviaries, to cock-fighting roosters, etc.)

"So it's much bigger in California and the really scary thing is it did get out of California and into other states. That's a major concern, because it shows that we couldn't put a handle on it. The other thing is, with this particular disease ... California by itself is not that big, it has about a $2 billion export industry. The U.S. export business is worth around $60 or $70 billion. Because of what happened in California, other countries around the world can quarantine us completely," he said, noting this is why the governor declared it a state of emergency.

"It's just a real scary thing. The last time we got into this it was extremely expensive and they killed millions of millions of chickens. It's probably the most infectious disease in poultry in the world," he said.

"The way it was really being spread around was from cock-fighting," Bengston said. "Cock-fighting poses that double threat 'cause before it even starts they are being secretive so it's not like they are going to broadcast that they are going county to county," Bengston said.

"You can see the immediate problem. We are trying to control a disease and we have an illegal industry involved and you don't want to drive them underground," he said.

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Antelope Valley Press, CA

March 10, 2003
Letters to the Editor

Tragic END strikes Antelope Valley Birds

No END in sight for bird disease? I keep reading about the poultry disease and millions of chickens being killed due to Exotic Newcastle Disease, better known as END.

But what about the little old lady in Littlerock that had one parakeet? The END task force came to her home and killed it. They told another lady they were taking her two parrots to the truck only to be tested and then gassed them before her very eye's.

This sort of thing is going on daily, and the majority of the public knows nothing about it, or that the source of the disease has been traced to roosters used for illegal cock fighting.

ANY bird that is within one kilometer (6/10ths of a mile) of a positive case of END is killed no matter what. It could be your daughters pet Cockatiel or Canary or your neighbors Macaw or Parakeet, it's not just chickens and they can be perfectly healthy.

There have been positive locations of END in Quartz Hill, Lancaster, Littlerock, Lake LA and it's still spreading. It's about time the public realized this is serious.

For maps of diseased sites in the Antelope Valley, and more detailed information go to www.cocka2.com . If we can't control END how will we ever fight biological warfare?

Sherry
Palmdale

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Fence Post, CO

Birds being accepted for Newcastle Disease testing
Colorado State University
March 9, 2003
http://www.thefencepost.com/article.php?sid=646&mode=&order=&thold=

Several Colorado State University Cooperative Extension offices will be drop-off sites for birds that should be tested for exotic Newcastle disease as part of the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s surveillance for the disease. Exotic Newcastle disease is a contagious and fatal viral disease that affects all bird species; however, it does not affect humans.

The disease has been detected in neighboring states, but has not yet been found in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Agriculture is testing birds that die that exhibit symptoms of the disease in an effort to prevent the disease from spreading into Colorado.

CSU Cooperative Extension offices exist in most Colorado counties. Twenty-four of those offices will have sanitary supplies available to collect samples that will be transported to U.S. Department of Agriculture and Colorado Department of Agriculture labs for testing.

All of the offices have information about the disease.
Exotic Newcastle disease, one of the most infectious diseases among poultry in the world, kills many birds before they exhibit signs of the disease; nearly 100 percent of unvaccinated poultry flocks die if they contract the disease, and vaccinations can not prevent death.

The disease affects caged birds such as parrots, as well as domestic fowl including chickens, ducks and geese. It also affects wildlife including pheasants and songbirds. The disease is easily spread through contact between healthy birds and infected birds, and by people who have had contact with infected birds.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture is encouraging people to submit deceased birds for testing if they exhibited signs of the disease. The disease affects the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems. Respiratory symptoms include sneezing, gasping for air, coughing and nasal discharge. Birds might also exhibit greenish and watery diarrhea as well as muscular tremors, drooping wings, twisting of the head and neck and complete paralysis.

Other general symptoms are a drop in egg production, thin-shelled eggs, a swelling of the tissues around the eyes and neck and sudden death.

Anyone who has a bird that meets these symptoms should contact their local CSU Cooperative Extension office about the drop-off point for their area. Most County Cooperative Extension offices have been supplied with disinfectants and materials to store samples, as well as information about the disease, but some will not be equipped to take samples.

Phone numbers for county CSU Cooperative Extension offices are listed in the county government section of the local phone book. Residents may also contact the Colorado Department of Agriculture at (303) 239-4161 or visit www.ag.state.co.us for more information about testing drop-off sites and the disease.

CSU Cooperative Extension offices on the college campus in Fort Collins will not be a drop-off site for samples.

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KOLD-TV, AZ

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=1170244&nav=14RTESPT

A disease that's harmful and even deadly to birds is causing some changes at the Reid Park Zoo. It's called Exotic Newcastle Disease. Zoo officials plan to post a sign on Monday asking visitors who come into contact with poultry to notify zoo employees. Those visitors will get a free shoe cleaning -- to insure they're not tracking the virus into the zoo. Commercial trucks entering zoo property will also be disinfected.

Officials do not plan to close any of the zoo aviaries until the disease is identified in Pima County. However, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum may close its aviary next week.

Exotic Newcastle Disease mostly affects poultry but can spread to other birds. Although it has only been found on the western edge of the state, it has ravaged California birds.

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Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL

Arizona's Desert Museum considers closing aviary as Newcastle precaution
The Associated Press
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030308&Category=APN&ArtNo=303080634&Ref=AR

Fears about the spread of Exotic Newcastle disease could prompt the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to close its mixed-breed aviary next week if the staff believes the birds are at risk.

"We have not yet closed aviaries," said Shawnee Riplog-Peterson, curator of mammalogy and ornithology at the Desert Museum. "We may decide that's something we want to do in the next week or so.

"We're just taking extreme precautions. ... We're taking this very seriously."

Exotic Newcastle is a virus that primarily affects poultry, but it can be spread to other types of birds. In California, the disease has spread through poultry farms, causing more than 3 million birds to be destroyed, according to state reports.

Even though the disease has been confirmed in Arizona only on the Colorado River Indian Reservation, fears about its spread caused state officials on Feb. 11 to ban certain bird events such as agricultural exhibitions or competitions.

As a result, the Bashas' Chandler Ostrich Festival was without ostriches when it opened Saturday, and organizers of the Pima County Fair are banning 4-H poultry displays and exotic bird exhibits.

The Desert Museum has no plans to close the recently reopened hummingbird exhibit. Hummingbirds don't touch the ground and so would not pick up any virus in fecal matter tracked in on the shoes of visitors, said Riplog-Peterson.

If a case of the disease is detected, the Arizona Department of Agriculture quarantines the property, tests the ill or dead birds, begins investigating surrounding properties for signs of the virus, then quarantines and tests birds within about half a mile, said Rae Chornenky, legislative liaison for the department.

To protect pets, Chornenky recommends keeping birds at home, not bringing in any new birds and washing hands frequently. Owners should not visit bird markets or locations where there are bird or chicken flocks, she said.

Last modified: March 08. 2003 7:56AM

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Arizona Republic, AZ

No-ostrich fest is no problem
Tim Koors/The Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0308EvOstrich08.html

Susan Padilla
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 8, 2003 12:00 AM

CHANDLER - A variety of activities and animals will make up for the absence of ostriches and won't hurt attendance, vendors said Friday, the first day of the Chandler Ostrich Festival.

Chris Zemer, owner of Zemer's Homemade Root Beer, came from Texas for his first ostrich festival to sell the beverage.

The State Agricultural Department banned ostriches from the 15th annual event because of the threat of a virulent bird malady, exotic Newcastle disease.

"But I don't think it's going to hurt attendance," Zemer said. "Just look at the park. It is so nice and open, and there are going to be lots of other animals to see."

The festival, which runs through Sunday, was moved to Tumbleweed Park in south Chandler from downtown.

First-year attendee Samantha Owens is one of those who came to see the other animals and said she isn't disappointed at all that the ostriches aren't at the festival.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the exotic races," said Owens, referring to animals such as water buffalo, hackney ponies and camels. "There were some listed that I had never heard of before. I'm looking forward to seeing what they look like."

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North County Times, CA

Numbers disclosed: Ten sites hit with Newcastle
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer

http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030306/53023.html

The number of North County areas afflicted with Exotic Newcastle disease jumped sharply Wednesday as officials disclosed that 10 sites ----- five commercial chicken farms and five backyard flocks ----- have been hit.

Previously released figures from the state-federal task force in charge of stamping out the disease showed only one noncommercial flock infection. Exotic Newcastle infects chickens that must then be destroyed. Several hundred thousand have been killed in the Valley Center region alone, the region is under quarantine and there is no end to the ravages in sight.

The Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force is made up of representatives from several state agencies under the joint leadership of the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

As with many operations this large and put together so fast ----- the disease has prompted a federal quarantine in eight Southern California counties and caused more than 3.1 million birds to be killed so far ----- mistakes sometimes occur, and the confusion of any bureaucracy can appear multiplied. Thus it was, officials said Wednesday, with efforts to identify and make public the number of affected sites.

Asked about the discrepancy in numbers produced by the task force in the last few days, Larry Hawkins, the agency's spokesman, said that San Diego County had been "split down the middle" by the agency, with one group of workers focusing on commercial farms, and another on backyard birds.

"Our data is contained in two different files," he said. "There appears to (have been) an error in the reporting" which, he added, accounted for some discrepancy over the last few days in numbers.

One backyard flock was found in Ramona on Jan 24, according to the task force list of sites. The next was found in Escondido on Feb. 22. The remaining three were found in Valley Center on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.

The list did not specify what types of backyard birds were found with the disease. Exotic Newcastle affects all species of birds, but is especially deadly to poultry.

So far, nearly 450,000 commercial chickens, or 10 percent of the county's 4.5 million chickens, have been killed in the county since the disease was discovered at Ramona Egg Ranch in January.

Four other commercial farms, all in Valley Center, tested positive in February. They are: the Armstrong Egg ranches on Cole Grade and Lilac roads; Foster Enterprises, also known as Gross Ranch, on Cole Grade Road; and the Fluegge Egg Ranch, on Twain Way.

It is unclear how the disease got to San Diego County, but according to Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, it may have moved on to the sites by way of shared equipment, through feed or manure trucks.

The disease is spread through mucus or feces of infected birds. It is not dangerous to humans, although USDA veterinarian Anna Welsch said that if the disease gets in a person's eye, it can cause a mild case of pinkeye.

Because the disease is so deadly to poultry and spreads so easily, task force officials said they must kill all infected birds, and in some cases birds that have had "dangerous contact" with infected birds or premises, in order to stop it from spreading.

Exotic Newcastle was first found in a backyard chicken flock in Compton in October. It has now spread to commercial farms and backyard birds in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. The federal quarantine includes those six counties in addition to Imperial and Santa Barbara counties, which act as a "buffer zone."

The last time a large-scale outbreak of Exotic Newcastle hit California was 1971 and it took three years and $56 million to eradicate the disease. In that time, 12 million birds were killed.

Questions concerning the disease may be answered by calling the California Food and Agriculture Department at (800) 491-1899, or the U.S. Department of Agriculture at (800) 940-6524.

Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760)740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com

3/6/03

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North County Times, CA

Rooster case headed for trial
KIMBERLY EPLER
Staff Writer

VISTA ---- It's a case about a man, his pet rooster and a neighbor who complained he couldn't get any sleep.

http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030306/73840.html

Next week, Robert Begnaud, 41, will go on trial for nine misdemeanor charges, including disturbing the peace and several noise violations, because Rocky the rooster has allegedly been annoying some residents of a Vista neighborhood with his crowing.

Begnaud said the main person who complained has an "ax to grind." Begnaud's defense attorney characterized it as a neighborhood dispute that had gotten out of control. The prosecutor, meanwhile, admitted the case was a bit "unusual," but defended bringing criminal charges against Begnaud.

"I understand where people are coming from on that, but we have what we believe to be a violation of the law, in this case, several laws ... and we're going forward," said Deputy District Attorney John Ristad.

He said the district attorney's office is not seeking jail time for Begnaud. They just want him to remove the offending bird. Ristad said he looks forward to all of the facts in the case coming out at trial.

Begnaud said he's willing to fight the charges and he wants to keep Rocky.

"I had no idea this was even possible," he said of facing criminal charges. "I didn't know until it was too late. I believe I'm doing a good thing (in fighting the charges) and other people who own chickens would want me to take a stand."

He said Rocky is both a pet and food provider for his wife and seven children. Having egg-producing chickens ---- a process Begnaud said was helped along by Rocky ---- also gives his kids a little taste of the farm experience he knew as a child.

Begnaud admitted Rocky was on the loud side of the crowing scale, but said the bird didn't sound off any more often than other roosters in the area ---- which is zoned for such animals.

Right now, Begnaud is free on his own recognizance pending trial. But he was called into court Wednesday after the same neighbor filed another complaint about Rocky after the first charges were filed. A Superior Court judge canceled the hearing to set possible conditions for Begnaud's bail status after finding out the bird had been moved to a new location.

The neighbor who complained about Rocky could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Begnaud said he had a hard time finding a new home for Rocky because of the recent outbreaks of Exotic Newcastle disease ---- a highly contagious virus that is nearly always fatal to birds. And, he said, the place he found is not as secure as the hen house where the bird used to live.

He said he worries that coyotes or dogs might be able to get to his rooster.

Begnaud's attorney, Jay Finnecy, said the complaints about the rooster should have landed in the civil side of the justice system.

"This is basically a neighborhood dispute that ended up in the criminal court where it doesn't belong," Finnecy said.

Contact staff writer Kimberly Epler at (760) 739-6644 or kepler@nctimes.com.

3/6/03

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KVOA, AZ

Keeping the flock happy & healthy

http://www.kvoa.com/stories/3/372003_1.html

Reid Park Zoo is taking steps to keep deadly germs away from its bird collections.

The highly contagious and fast spreading exotic newcastle disease has killed thousands of chickens in Southern California. And it may have infected chickens in the Phoenix area.

So zoo officials say they will post a sign asking visitors whether they've been on farms or in contact with birds. If so, they may be asked to disinfect their shoes.

People don't get newcastle. But people can spread it with contaminated feces on their shoes. Service vehicles will also have to have their tires disinfected.

And particularly susceptible birds are being rounded up and isolated.

Zoo officials say closing aviaries to the public will be a last resort.

On Friday the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum will discuss steps to protect its bird collection.

Published: Mar. 6, 2003

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Hartford Courant, CT

Millions Of Chickens Quarantined
Connecticut Investigating Possible Avian Flu Outbreak
March 7, 2003
By GARRET CONDON, Courant Staff Writer

http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-birdflu0307.artmar07,0,2713506.story?coll=hc-headlines-local

State officials are investigating a possible outbreak of avian influenza at Bozrah-based Kofkoff Egg Farms, which runs a number of farms in eastern Connecticut and is one of New England's largest egg producers. Officials have quarantined 4.7 million chickens and have been overseeing tests for flu virus for a week.

As a result, Japanese officials have temporarily banned all poultry imports from the United States. State officials said that there is no threat to humans and that eggs do not carry the virus.

"It does not move in the eggs," said Bruce Gresczyk, deputy state commissioner of agriculture. He declined to identify the egg producer, but said that it is one of New England's largest. Michael Darre, extension poultry specialist and professor of poultry at the University of Connecticut, identified the poultry concern as Kofkoff, which he called "a very good operation." Telephone calls to Kofkoff Thursday afternoon were not returned.

Gresczyk said that the farms in question are under quarantine, which stops the movement of all poultry and manure. In addition, strict bio-security measures have been implemented, including disinfectant foot baths, vehicle cleaning and disinfection and limiting human access to the properties.

The suspected strain is H7N2 avian flu, a virus that poses no threat to human or other mammals, Gresczyk said. It is rarely fatal, he said, even to chickens. But in such an outbreak, the worry is that the virus will spread to other chicken farms and that it could mutate into a form that might be deadly to the birds. In a 1983 outbreak in Pennsylvania, a "low-pathogenic" form apparently became a virus fatal to birds.

There have been some cases of flu virus jumping from birds to humans. As recently as last month, a 33-year-old man in Hong Kong died from pneumonia after catching avian influenza. His 9-year-old son, who also got the virus, recovered. In 1997, six people died in Hong Kong after contracting avian flu.

However, the H7 subtype of the virus - suspected in the Connecticut investigation - was not implicated in any of these cases. David Daigle, a spokesman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the CDC knew of only two cases in which humans contracted the "H7" subtype of avian flu. In both cases - a lab worker and a farm employee - they apparently wiped the virus into their eyes. Neither case was fatal.

In Connecticut, which has more chickens per square mile than any other state in the country, a Scotland farm suffered a similar avian flu outbreak in 2001, and about 16,000 chickens were destroyed. Last summer, the avian flu resulted in the destruction of millions of chickens and turkeys in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Late last week, Dutch officials announced an outbreak among 13 farms in the center of The Netherlands. The Dutch immediately halted exports of poultry. In California, another virus - exotic Newcastle disease - is threatening that state's poultry industry.

Darre said that the avian flu virus could have made its way to eastern Connecticut any number of ways. Wild waterfowl, which are also susceptible, might have carried it. He said that very little meat from laying hens makes its way into the human food supply - it is generally used for feed and pet food. Infected meat, he said, probably would be destroyed.

Gresczyk said that the work of taking throat swabs and blood samples will be completed by early next week. Samples are being analyzed at federal laboratories in Ames, Iowa.

He said that if the virus is present, it might be possible to avoid mass destruction of birds by vaccinating young chickens as they replace infected birds that are past their egg-laying prime.

"We have to make sure it's contained and stopped," he said.

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Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, CA

Article Last Updated: Friday, March 07, 2003 - 12:23:31 AM PST
Poultry virus sites revealed
Locations of deadly disease released
By NAOMI KRESGE
STAFF WRITER

http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~1226681,00.html

The deadly poultry virus that has led to the killing of nearly three million Southland chickens first entered the commercial poultry stock at a ranch on El Sobrante Road in Riverside County in December, according to state records released for the first time this week.

That infestation, the first of 17 incidents, marked the point at which the deadly poultry virus moved out of the pet bird population to become a threat to the Southern California egg industry.

Investigators next found the virus - exotic Newcastle disease - at a ranch in Fontana, the documents show.

From there, the disease leapfrogged to ranches on Santa Ana Avenue in Fontana and Old Julian Highway in Ramona, and then to a ranch in Norco.

State officials released the names and addresses of infected commercial poultry operations Wednesday, in response to a California Public Records Act request filed by the Daily Bulletin. The documents reveal that the disease spread through clusters of ranches in the Fontana area, Chino, south of Riverside and near Valley Center, in San Diego County.

The task force isolated exotic Newcastle disease at the 17 ranches, starting on Dec. 27 at Verne Ranch just south of Riverside and most recently at Fleugge ranch in Valley Center on Feb. 21, the records show.

The dates of infection reflect when lab tests confirmed the presence of the disease, not necessarily when chickens began dying of the virus.

The virus was first confirmed in backyard flocks in Norco and in Compton on Oct. 1, task force officials confirmed Thursday. The task force had previously protected the identities of infected commercial egg operations but will now disclose the names and addresses of each affected ranch once the chickens have been euthanized, a spokesman said Thursday.

"We have biosecurity concerns anyway, relative to releasing this information, but after a thorough review by our office with input from our attorney, it appeared to us that that information should in fact be released at some time," spokesman Steve Lyle said.

"Because biosecurity remains a concern, we determined that the point of depopulation - when the threat of spread of the disease (has lessened) because you have much less activity there on the premises - would be an appropriate time to release the information."

A lawyer for the California Newspaper Publishers Association said he is not aware of precedent for holding public records for a set time before disclosing them.

"If it's a disclosable public record, then give it up, and if you think it's a nondisclosable public record, then cite a code section that allows you to withhold it," CNPA general counsel Tom Newton said.

The task force's supervising staff counsel, John Dyer, did not return calls asking for an explanation of the policy.

Debbie Murdock, associate director of Pacific Egg and Poultry, an industry organization that represents poultry producers throughout the Western United States and Canada, declined to comment on the decision to make the locations public.

Industry watchers simply hope to see the disease eradicated, she said.

The last exotic Newcastle disease outbreak, in the early 1970s, killed 12 million chickens and cost the state $56 million to eradicate.

Before this outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease, California's egg industry was the third-largest in the country and was nearly evenly split between the northern and southern parts of the state, Murdock said.

"I don't know what it is now, since we had to depopulate so many birds," Murdock said.

Task force officials have said they will continue to protect the identities of private bird owners whose pet flocks are killed because of the virus.

Naomi Kresge can be reached by e-mail atnaomi.kresge@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8553.

---

Knoxville News Sentinel, TN

Foodfight breaks out over ag's vulnerability to terrorism
By LANCE GAY
March 6, 2003

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/national/article/0,1406,KNS_350_1792722,00.html

A six-month battle to control a virulent outbreak of a poultry disease in California is just a sampling of the problems the United States would face if terrorists tried to contaminate agriculture or the food supply, experts say.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture and experts disagree on lessons learned.

Bobby Acord, director of the department's animal and plant inspection service, said that the campaign to eradicate the imported exotic Newcastle disease in California "is a classic example of the good things we do." It demonstrates that state and local officials can effectively deal with outbreaks of foreign pathogens brought into the United States either accidentally or deliberately, he said.

Others take exception. They say the difficulties in dealing with the outbreak - which started in an urbanized area of ethnic immigrants, spread to commercial operations and has since been detected in neighboring Nevada and Arizona - show how easy it would be for terrorists to sabotage America's agricultural base or its food supply.

"We are not prepared," poultry expert Simon Shane said. "If you are talking a bioterrorist attack using animal diseases, we haven't got a hope."

Shane, a retired veterinary professor from Louisiana State University, said the major difficulties agents have faced involved locating diseased fighting cocks and failing to use vaccines as an effective tool against outbreaks.

The outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease was uncovered in Los Angeles in September in a backyard chicken coop. The disease is especially lethal for poultry, causing more than 90 percent mortality in unvaccinated birds. It has been linked to pinkeye in some people.

California agriculture officials estimate there are at least 50,000 backyard chicken coops in the state, growing 3 million birds. The activities range from those raising poultry for food, breeders growing expensive show birds for stores and those raising fighting cocks. It's illegal to own fighting cocks in California, and under a federal law that goes into effect in May, it will be illegal to take them across state lines for fighting purposes.

Shane said federal and state agents' ineffectiveness in locating infected fighting cocks allowed the disease to fester in Los Angeles backyards until December, when the disease showed up in commercial hen houses in the region, and then crossed into an American Indian reservation in Arizona. It also jumped to Las Vegas, which, Shane said, indicates a clear cockfighting connection.

More than 3.4 million chickens have been exterminated in the effort to stamp out the disease. Agents from the federal and California agriculture departments have imposed a quarantine to keep it from spreading northward into areas of California where huge broiler and turkey farms are located. The last outbreak in California, in 1971, took three years to bring under control, and resulted in the slaughtering of 12 million birds. The state's industry is worth about $3.2 billion.

Harley Moon, an Iowa State University veterinary professor, headed a National Academy of Sciences panel that issued a report last year on America's vulnerability to agricultural or food diseases. He said the difficulties in fighting the poultry disease clearly demonstrate that holes in defenses need to be plugged.

"People aren't thinking health issues, and the threat to production," Moon said. "How different would this be if this were terrorism, or if someone deliberately brought in fighting cocks that were infected with some disease?'

Moon said introducing diseases into the country would be a simple but devastating way of crippling the economy.

"You don't have to attack directly, you can put it in the wildlife," he said.


Acord, the Department of Agriculture official, said the way state and federal agencies responded shows the effectiveness of the government response. He said the government was aware of the difficulty of reaching into the cockfighting community, and used specialty publications to educate owners about the dangers of the disease.

"Yes, it was more difficult and more challenging," Acord said, noting his agents were battling an outbreak in a largely urbanized area. "But if they are portraying this as a failure, it defies our experience."

Other criticism of the effort came from the Humane Society of the United States. Wayne Pacelli, the organization's vice president, charged that agriculture agents were recompensing owners for birds that were exterminated. Pacelli said better police efforts against cockfighting would have helped stop the spread, and said it's improper for the government to give value to such birds.

Acord said the government uses poultry appraisers to determine the value of birds.

"The way I look at it, we're buying the disease, not the birds," he said. "We can't eradicate the disease without buying the birds."

California officials would not give a price range for the birds.

Terry Conger, state epidemiologist with the Texas Animal Health Commission, said his state has alerted poultry growers to signs of the disease, and has set up rapid diagnosis laboratories to identify the disease if it comes to Texas.

"It kind of got away from us in California - we could have moved more rapidly," he said.

On the Net: www.usda.gov
(Contact Lance Gay at gayl(at)shns.com or visit SHNS on the Web at http://www.shns.com.)

---

Scripps Howard News Service

Foodfight breaks out over ag's vulnerability to terrorism
By LANCE GAY
Scripps Howard News Service
March 06, 2003

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=FOODSECURITY-03-06-03&cat=AN

- A six-month battle to control a virulent outbreak of a poultry disease in California is just a sampling of the problems the United States would face if terrorists tried to contaminate agriculture or the food supply, experts say.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture and experts disagree on lessons learned.

Bobby Acord, director of the department's animal and plant inspection service, said that the campaign to eradicate the imported exotic Newcastle disease in California "is a classic example of the good things we do." It demonstrates that state and local officials can effectively deal with outbreaks of foreign pathogens brought into the United States either accidentally or deliberately, he said.

Others take exception. They say the difficulties in dealing with the outbreak - which started in an urbanized area of ethnic immigrants, spread to commercial operations and has since been detected in neighboring Nevada and Arizona - show how easy it would be for terrorists to sabotage America's agricultural base or its food supply.

"We are not prepared," poultry expert Simon Shane said. "If you are talking a bioterrorist attack using animal diseases, we haven't got a hope."

Shane, a retired veterinary professor from Louisiana State University, said the major difficulties agents have faced involved locating diseased fighting cocks and failing to use vaccines as an effective tool against outbreaks.

The outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease was uncovered in Los Angeles in September in a backyard chicken coop. The disease is especially lethal for poultry, causing more than 90 percent mortality in unvaccinated birds. It has been linked to pinkeye in some people.

California agriculture officials estimate there are at least 50,000 backyard chicken coops in the state, growing 3 million birds. The activities range from those raising poultry for food, breeders growing expensive show birds for stores and those raising fighting cocks. It's illegal to own fighting cocks in California, and under a federal law that goes into effect in May, it will be illegal to take them across state lines for fighting purposes.

Shane said federal and state agents' ineffectiveness in locating infected fighting cocks allowed the disease to fester in Los Angeles backyards until December, when the disease showed up in commercial hen houses in the region, and then crossed into an American Indian reservation in Arizona. It also jumped to Las Vegas, which, Shane said, indicates a clear cockfighting connection.

More than 3.4 million chickens have been exterminated in the effort to stamp out the disease. Agents from the federal and California agriculture departments have imposed a quarantine to keep it from spreading northward into areas of California where huge broiler and turkey farms are located. The last outbreak in California, in 1971, took three years to bring under control, and resulted in the slaughtering of 12 million birds. The state's industry is worth about $3.2 billion.

Harley Moon, an Iowa State University veterinary professor, headed a National Academy of Sciences panel that issued a report last year on America's vulnerability to agricultural or food diseases. He said the difficulties in fighting the poultry disease clearly demonstrate that holes in defenses need to be plugged.

"People aren't thinking health issues, and the threat to production," Moon said. "How different would this be if this were terrorism, or if someone deliberately brought in fighting cocks that were infected with some disease?'

Moon said introducing diseases into the country would be a simple but devastating way of crippling the economy.

"You don't have to attack directly, you can put it in the wildlife," he said.

Acord, the Department of Agriculture official, said the way state and federal agencies responded shows the effectiveness of the government response. He said the government was aware of the difficulty of reaching into the cockfighting community, and used specialty publications to educate owners about the dangers of the disease.

"Yes, it was more difficult and more challenging," Acord said, noting his agents were battling an outbreak in a largely urbanized area. "But if they are portraying this as a failure, it defies our experience."

Other criticism of the effort came from the Humane Society of the United States. Wayne Pacelli, the organization's vice president, charged that agriculture agents were recompensing owners for birds that were exterminated. Pacelli said better police efforts against cockfighting would have helped stop the spread, and said it's improper for the government to give value to such birds.

Acord said the government uses poultry appraisers to determine the value of birds.

"The way I look at it, we're buying the disease, not the birds," he said. "We can't eradicate the disease without buying the birds."

California officials would not give a price range for the birds.

Terry Conger, state epidemiologist with the Texas Animal Health Commission, said his state has alerted poultry growers to signs of the disease, and has set up rapid diagnosis laboratories to identify the disease if it comes to Texas.

"It kind of got away from us in California - we could have moved more rapidly," he said.

---

Victorville Daily Press, CA

Thursday, March 6, 2003
Newcastle Disease hits High Desert
A few cases of infected fowl found in Hesperia backyard coops
By CHRISTINA L. ESPARZA/Staff Writer

http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1046970281,38624,

HESPERIA — A deadly avian virus that has so far caused 3 million bird deaths in California has hit the High Desert, officials from a combined state and federal task force confirmed Wednesday.

In numbers that fluctuated throughout the day, Adrian Woodfork, spokesman for the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force, said late Wednesday there were a "few" cases found in backyard coops in Hesperia.

Kim Summers, Hesperia city spokeswoman, said officials from the task force contacted Hesperia officials about two weeks ago, saying they needed to hold a workshop to inform the public about the disease. The workshop has been scheduled for March 18 at City Hall.

"They (task force officials) said they had a big map on their wall with tacks," that shows where the disease hit, Summers said. "They said Hesperia had a few tacks. ... It caught us by surprise."

Officials from the task force asked feed stores in the High Desert to stop buying or selling any type of poultry over the weekend, because the highly infectious disease — which started in a backyard coop in Compton — has grown tremendously in California and has hit Nevada and Arizona.

Already, several hundred thousand chickens have been "de-populated," or killed, in San Bernardino County by order of agriculture officials. However, until Wednesday's notice, the High Desert had been spared the ravages of the virus.

The disease causes in birds a partial to complete drop in egg production, respiratory problems, nasal discharge and diarrhea. It is, however, completely harmless to humans.

"It's so contagious and highly infectious," Woodfork said. "Birds can get it from other birds, as well as humans — it could be on their shoes and clothing."

John Sowers, manager at Big Valley Feed in Hesperia, said he was informed Saturday to not buy or sell poultry, including the 100 chicks he received the day before.

Not being able to buy or sell chickens could cause the business to lose $300 to $400 a month, he said. Feed sales also will potentially go down because people are not buying chickens to feed.

"It's affected our business tremendously," Sowers said. "We can't buy big chickens and sell them. There was a lot of business in that."

In January, the county declared a state of emergency in response to the disease and barred all birds from being shown at this year's San Bernardino County Fair, scheduled May 10-18. Gov. Gray Davis also declared a state crisis last month.

"Boy, it's a terrible one," said Harry Ryun, owner of Covered Wagon Pet Supply in Victorville. Ryun said he has typically sold between 300 and 400 chickens during the spring months. "They can't ship into the state of California, and they can't ship around here."

This time of year is especially damaging to feed stores because it's the time when people flock to buy chicks, which would be able to lay eggs in about six months.

Before ceasing the sales of her chicks, Kathy Vander Veen, owner of Town and Country Feed and Supplies in Hesperia and the Apple Valley Feed Bin, said she would receive about 200 every two weeks. They would sell out in about three or four days at $1.59 each.

"We're going to have a terrible Easter," Vander Veen said. "Customers are very disappointed, especially this time of year."

Christina L. Esparza can be reached at christina_esparza@link.freedom.com or 951-6233

.MEETING

l Agriculture officials will hold an information workshop on Exotic Newcastle Disease on March 18 at 6 p.m. at Hesperia City Hall, 15776 Main St.

---

North County Times, CA

Numbers disclosed: Ten sites hit with Newcastle
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer

http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030306/53023.html

The number of North County areas afflicted with Exotic Newcastle disease jumped sharply Wednesday as officials disclosed that 10 sites ----- five commercial chicken farms and five backyard flocks ----- have been hit.

Previously released figures from the state-federal task force in charge of stamping out the disease showed only one noncommercial flock infection. Exotic Newcastle infects chickens that must then be destroyed. Several hundred thousand have been killed in the Valley Center region alone, the region is under quarantine and there is no end to the ravages in sight.

The Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force is made up of representatives from several state agencies under the joint leadership of the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

As with many operations this large and put together so fast ----- the disease has prompted a federal quarantine in eight Southern California counties and caused more than 3.1 million birds to be killed so far ----- mistakes sometimes occur, and the confusion of any bureaucracy can appear multiplied. Thus it was, officials said Wednesday, with efforts to identify and make public the number of affected sites.

Asked about the discrepancy in numbers produced by the task force in the last few days, Larry Hawkins, the agency's spokesman, said that San Diego County had been "split down the middle" by the agency, with one group of workers focusing on commercial farms, and another on backyard birds.

"Our data is contained in two different files," he said. "There appears to (have been) an error in the reporting" which, he added, accounted for some discrepancy over the last few days in numbers.

One backyard flock was found in Ramona on Jan 24, according to the task force list of sites. The next was found in Escondido on Feb. 22. The remaining three were found in Valley Center on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.

The list did not specify what types of backyard birds were found with the disease. Exotic Newcastle affects all species of birds, but is especially deadly to poultry.

So far, nearly 450,000 commercial chickens, or 10 percent of the county's 4.5 million chickens, have been killed in the county since the disease was discovered at Ramona Egg Ranch in January.

Four other commercial farms, all in Valley Center, tested positive in February. They are: the Armstrong Egg ranches on Cole Grade and Lilac roads; Foster Enterprises, also known as Gross Ranch, on Cole Grade Road; and the Fluegge Egg Ranch, on Twain Way.

It is unclear how the disease got to San Diego County, but according to Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, it may have moved on to the sites by way of shared equipment, through feed or manure trucks.

The disease is spread through mucus or feces of infected birds. It is not dangerous to humans, although USDA veterinarian Anna Welsch said that if the disease gets in a person's eye, it can cause a mild case of pinkeye.

Because the disease is so deadly to poultry and spreads so easily, task force officials said they must kill all infected birds, and in some cases birds that have had "dangerous contact" with infected birds or premises, in order to stop it from spreading.

Exotic Newcastle was first found in a backyard chicken flock in Compton in October. It has now spread to commercial farms and backyard birds in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. The federal quarantine includes those six counties in addition to Imperial and Santa Barbara counties, which act as a "buffer zone."

The last time a large-scale outbreak of Exotic Newcastle hit California was 1971 and it took three years and $56 million to eradicate the disease. In that time, 12 million birds were killed.

Questions concerning the disease may be answered by calling the California Food and Agriculture Department at (800) 491-1899, or the U.S. Department of Agriculture at (800) 940-6524.

Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760)740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com

3/6/03

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Union-Tribune, CA

4 more cases of avian virus found
UNION-TRIBUNE
March 6, 2003

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/thu/metro/news_1mi6castle.html

A state and federal task force trying to stop the spread of an avian virus said yesterday that four more cases of the disease had been detected in the county.

The new cases of exotic Newcastle disease were found in backyard chickens or pet birds, said Adrian Woodfork, a spokesman for the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force. Those birds were ordered destroyed.

Woodfork said one case was in Escondido and three were in Valley Center.

Members of the task force have been going door to door in neighborhoods near the egg ranches in Valley Center that recently tested positive for exotic Newcastle.

The disease was found in five commercial ranches in North County – one in Ramona and four in Valley Center. All of those flocks were destroyed.

Since the outbreak was confirmed in backyard flocks in Los Angeles County last October, the task force has destroyed 3 million birds.

Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

---

The Arizona Republic, AZ

The festival's on!
Ostriches, not fun, banned
Mar. 6, 2003 12:00 AM

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/eastvalleyopinions/articles/0306seedit0306.html

The Chandler Ostrich Festival has had its share of ups and downs - from bad weather to animal-rights protests to financial concerns.

This year: no ostriches.

But absence of the world's largest, yet flightless birds should not discourage festival-goers from attending the 15-year-old signature event Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What is an ostrich festival without an ostrich? It's still a festival.

The Chandler Chamber of Commerce struggled to carry on the festival that almost moved to Gilbert. The Chamber cut ties with the promoter, hired a new one and relocated the event to Tumbleweed Park at Germann and McQueen roads.

All was set for the Chandler Ostrich Festival. That was until a couple of weeks ago when event organizers got word of a state ban on bird exhibitions because of the Newcastle virus, which kills birds but doesn't harm humans.

Although the ostriches will not be present, attendees can still purchase ostrich leather, feather dusters and other items. The new promoter, Brown's Amusements, and city leaders are optimistic that enjoyment will still be had with the festivities, music and more than 100 new vendors who are lined up this year.

Festival-goers ought to give it a chance.

Ostriches or no ostriches, the Chandler Ostrich Festival was going to have a different feel this year anyway with it being in a new locale.

The festival has grown larger and has gained national recognition since its debut in 1989, after city leaders came up with the idea of hosting an event to reflect Chandler's history in ostrich farming. The festival was a success, attracting 75,000 people.

This tradition should continue so that when the ostriches return, they will have a festival they can return to.

---

The Lafayette Daily Advertiser, LA

Poultry quarantine to protect against Newcastle disease
The Associated Press

http://www.acadiananow.com/news/html/957C7D33-5A5E-477B-BEE6-49C6CBEFDD5A.shtml

March 6, 2003

BATON ROUGE (AP) — A quarantine has been ordered on all poultry coming into Louisiana from areas of three western states affected by Exotic Newscastle Disease.

Newcastle disease is a highly contagious and fatal viral disease that affects all species of birds and would devastate Louisiana’s $967 million poultry industry if it broke out here.

LSU AgCenter poultry specialist Theresia Lavergne said that the only way to get rid of the disease is to sacrifice the birds.

“That would mean no income for those producers, and everyone would have to start over from the beginning,” she said.

The quarantine prohibits birds that come from 12 counties in California, Nevada and Arizona from entering or passing through Louisiana.

Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Bob Odom sent a letter and fact sheet to all poultry producers and veterinarians in the state warning them about the disease and its effects.

“I want to stress that we do not have Exotic Newcastle Disease in Louisiana,” Odom said. “We sent the letter and fact sheet to make producers and veterinarians aware of the disease.”

END is not a public health threat and does not affect the safety of poultry and eggs for human consumption, Odom said. Humans cannot get the disease, but can pass it on from one flock of birds to another.

“I explained in the letter to producers that the Department of Agriculture and Forestry will make every effort to reassure the public that Louisiana’s poultry and egg industries are safe and responsible in their production practices,” Odom said.

Louisiana State Veterinarian Dr. Maxwell Lea said END is spread primarily through direct contact between healthy birds and the bodily discharges of infected birds.

“It is often spread by vaccination and debeaking crews, manure haulers, rendering truck drivers, feed delivery personnel, poultry buyers, egg service people, poultry farm owners and farm employees,” Lea said.

©The Lafayette Daily Advertiser

---

North County Times, CA

How many sites infected with Newcastle?
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer

http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030305/54218.html

VALLEY CENTER ---- The state and federal task force assigned to "contain and eradicate" the chicken-killing Exotic Newcastle disease has a numbers problem. It does not, by its own admission, seem to know exactly how many infected areas and farms there are in the Valley Center area.

Exotic Newcastle, a disease that affects all types of birds, but is especially deadly in poultry, was discovered in a backyard chicken flock in Compton in October. It was found in a San Diego County chicken farm in December. Where it has spread since, how far, to how many ranches and birds, is not clear.

The numbers that the highly secretive task force discloses have varied. But in the last several days the agency seemed to have settled on the number five. Or perhaps six if one parrot was added into the mix.

On Monday night at a community forum that the Exotic Newcastle Task Force conducted, aides put up a map showing seven infected areas, marked with red dots on the computer-generated sheet. When asked about the discrepancy, a spokesman, Dan Parry, said he could not explain it but would "have somebody look into it."

On Tuesday, another spokesman, Adrian Woodfork, responded to further questions about the discrepancy that the number of infected areas, or farms, by saying, "Apparently there are more than even those seven."

In repeated calls Tuesday to the agency, a reporter was told that the correct number would be forthcoming in a little while. By late Tuesday, Woodfork said "the numbers have changed," but had no numbers to give. He said that they might be available today.

The task force has refused to pinpoint the locations of the infected sites, including the five commercial farms it cited. It has until today to respond to requests under the Freedom of Information and California Open Records acts for that information.

In response to a similar request, the county of San Diego released an e-mail it received from the California Office of Emergency Services that listed infected farms. They were: two Armstrong egg ranches, one on Cole Grade Road and the other on Lilac Road; the Gross Ranch, believed to be on Cole Grade Road; and the Fluegge Egg Ranch, believed to be on Twain Way.

While the e-mail said these ranches were "infected" and "infected on...," giving dates, it could not be independently confirmed that the list represented the earliest known infected farms or were perhaps included in an unknown new number.

Although it is not listed in the e-mail, the first farm in San Diego County discovered to be infected with Exotic Newcastle was Sylvester International Farms in Ramona.

The task force's decision to keep the names of the farms secret has outraged many bird owners.

In an e-mail to the North County Times, one pet bird owner complained about the task force's secrecy, saying, "There are so many horror stories circulating of them abusing people's rights and refusing to conduct themselves in a proper official way and within the law."

Another woman, who lives near one of the infected farms in Valley Center, said Tuesday that she was afraid that her backyard chickens may have been exposed to Exotic Newcastle because of the task force's refusal to release the names or locations of infected ranches.

Although she said she put bio-security measures in place, she said she might have done even more to protect her birds had she known that the farm near her home was infected. She asked that her name not be used.

According to a press release, the task force has killed more than 3.1 million birds in California since the outbreak began. That includes about 450,000, or 10 percent, of the 4.5 million the chickens in San Diego County.

Infected sites have been found in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, although a federal quarantine includes all of Imperial and Santa Barbara counties also. The quarantine forbids birds to move out of the counties.

The task force says it has spent more than $35 million. The last time the disease was found in California, in the early 1970s, 12 million birds were killed, and approximately $56 million was spent during the three-year outbreak.

Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760) 740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com.

3/5/03

---

KOCO, OK

Officials Send Out Information About Fatal Fowl Disease
Disease Called Foot-And-Mouth Disease For Birds

POSTED: 10:21 a.m. CST March 5, 2003
UPDATED: 10:32 a.m. CST March 5, 2003
http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/2020673/detail.html

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma agriculture officials are notifying those who deal with poultry about a fatal disease that may have spread from Mexican fighting chickens to fowl in the United States.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry is sending fliers about exotic Newcastle disease to feed stores, bird swap meets and farmers' markets.

The state Agriculture Department also has begun alerting extension offices across the state to look for the foot-and-mouth disease, which affects nearly all birds but not humans.

"We're hoping our safeguards are going to keep it out of the state, but we have to be vigilant," said Jack Carson, spokesman for the state Agriculture Department. "The only way to deal with any outbreak is early detection and fast action to contain it."

The disease was first detected in California in September and was subsequently found in flocks of Arizona and Nevada chickens. There is speculation that Mexican fighting chickens spread the disease to California birds.

"We want our producers to be aware it's there and to take the proper precautions," said Carey Floyd, an Agriculture Department veterinarian. Floyd and two teams of state veterinarians and other experts have been helping Nevada deal with the spread of the disease.

Oklahoma has guidelines identifying the disease and plans on destroying exposed birds and disposing of carcasses, Floyd said.

Taxpayers have spent $36 million to inspect and kill birds exposed to exotic Newcastle disease in California, in some cases paying as much as $1,000 per fighting chicken that had to be killed.

Cockfighting is illegal in California and a new federal law bans interstate transport of the fighting birds, but it is legal to raise them there.

The disease is like foot-and-mouth disease in birds, said Adrian Woodfork, spokesman with the more than 1,000-person Newcastle task force in California.

Woodfork said it is unclear whether the three states are close to containing the disease. More than 3 million birds have already been killed in California to try to protect its multibillion-dollar poultry industry.

Oklahoma's commercial chicken population is nearly 57 million chickens raised by 890 registered poultry farmers. Oklahoma has about 500,000 fighting roosters.

---

Antelope Valley Press, CA

Supervisor: State should cooperate on bird disease
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press Wednesday, March 5, 2003.
By NICOLE JACOB
Valley Press Staff Writer
http://www.avpress.com/n/westy4.hts

LOS ANGELES - Saying Los Angeles County has been "left out of the loop" in the exotic Newcastle disease response process, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich on Tuesday called for more active participation and communication from the state, and monthly reports to the county on the epidemic.

"We have not received full cooperation from the federal and state agencies," Antonovich said following the Board of Supervisors meeting during which his motion passed. "This issue is affecting such a large number of people, we need to be assured needs are met."

More than 2.1 million birds have been destroyed since the disease was detected last fall in backyard poultry and pet birds in Los Angeles County.

The disease has spread to Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, prompting a broad quarantine. Signs of the disease in birds include sneezing, coughing, gasping for air, drooping wings, muscular tremors and paralysis.

The board will send a letter to Gov. Gray Davis to request the county be an active participant in developing a control plan for the disease.

The letter also requests state agencies' cooperation and communication with the county.

Meanwhile, county counsel and the Department of Health Services will determine what legal steps the county can take to ensure active participation and communication.

"Although the state of California is the lead agency on this problem, very little has been done to contain the virus," Antonovich said. "The county Animal Health Services stands ready and willing to assist the state. … Despite the county's attempt to partner with the state on this serious issue, the county has been left out of the process."

The exotic Newcastle disease epidemic has left many poultry and bird owners in the Antelope Valley scared and confused.

"There isn't enough information given to the people," said Angela Wood, vice president of the AV Caged Bird Society. "People were calling me saying they couldn't get answers to their questions from the Department of Agriculture. In my opinion, they were skirting over the issues."

Authorities placed a number of properties in the Antelope Valley under quarantine with the hope of containing the disease. At some of these properties, officials said birds displayed signs of the disease and had to be destroyed, much to the dismay of their owners.

"People were scared," said Wood, whose birds have not been affected by the virus. "Some of them were panicked. They saw yellow signs on their neighbors' doors and wanted to know if their own birds were going to be killed."

She said the panic seems to have dissipated, and she hasn't received any calls for a few weeks.

The county can help provide public education, follow up on quarantines and provide data collection and analysis in order to understand the dynamics of the epidemic, Antonovich said.

"It is essential that taxpayer dollars not be wasted as a result of refusal of governments to cooperate with the local jurisdiction," he said in his motion.

Wood supports the board's Tuesday action.

"We need more notification," she said. "I don't believe there's enough information out there, especially for the people who really need it."

Exotic Newcastle disease causes internal hemorrhaging and imminent death in birds and poultry and can be spread directly through contact with infected birds, feces or by air over short distances. It can also be spread indirectly through contact with contaminated people, vehicles, equipment, insects and rodents, according to information from California Food and Drug Administration.

The previous exotic Newcastle disease epidemic, which occurred in 1971-73, cost more than $56 million and took three years to eradicate, according to figures from Antonovich's office.

A representative from the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force, or END, could not be reached for comment late Tuesday about the board's action.

To find out more about how to prevent transmission of the disease, call the hotline at (800) 491-1899.

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Daily Oklahoman, OK

State plans to fight disease in birds
2003-03-05
By Sonya Colberg
The Oklahoman
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=994497&pic=none&TP=getarticle

Birds' equivalent of foot-and- mouth disease has spread to three states but has not reached Oklahoma, though fighting chickens could complicate any outbreak here.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry has developed a plan to fight highly contagious diseases such as exotic Newcastle disease and is sending out fliers about the fatal disease.

Although its origins may never be scratched out, there's speculation that exotic Newcastle disease may have spread from Mexican fighting chickens to California birds. The disease ominously referred to as END was first detected in that state in September before it popped up in Nevada and Arizona flocks.

"We want our producers to be aware it's there and to take the proper precautions," said Carey Floyd, an Agriculture Department veterinarian. Floyd and two teams of state veterinarians and other experts have been helping Nevada deal with the spread of the disease.

Fliers about the disease are going out to feed stores, bird swap meets and farmers markets. The state Agriculture Department also has begun alerting extension offices across the state to be on the lookout. The disease affects nearly all birds but not humans.

"We're hoping our safeguards are going to keep it out of the state, but we have to be vigilant," said Jack Carson, spokesman for the state Agriculture Department. "The only way to deal with any outbreak is early detection and fast action to contain it."

Floyd said Oklahoma has guidelines in place on identifying the disease and plans on destroying exposed birds and disposing of carcasses.

Taxpayers have shelled out some $36 million to inspect and kill birds exposed to exotic Newcastle disease in California, in some cases reportedly paying as much as $1,000 per fighting chicken that had to be killed. Although cockfighting is illegal in California, and a new federal law bans interstate transport of the fighting birds, it is legal to raise them there.

The disease is like foot-and- mouth disease in birds, said Adrian Woodfork, spokesman with the more than 1,000-person Newcastle task force in California.

Although the state's battle has stretched out more than five months, Woodfork said it is still unclear whether the three states are close to containing the disease.

"It's highly contagious, highly infectious," Woodfork said. "Because of the nature of the disease, it can be risky to other states. It's actually gone into Nevada and Arizona. All I can tell you is we are pursuing this with a vengeance."

More than 3 million birds have already been killed in California to try to protect its multibillion dollar poultry industry.

Oklahoma's commercial chicken population is nearly 57 million chickens raised by 890 registered poultry farmers. Oklahoma has about 500,000 fighting roosters.

"Birds can infect other birds and game birds are no different than any other bird," he said.

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Orange County Register, CA

Alleged fighting roosters found
Ninety birds were used or to be used for cockfighting, say Santa Ana police, who cite 2 men.
By COURTNEY PERKES
The Orange County Register
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=28335§ion=LOCAL&subsection=LOCAL&year=2003&month=3&day=5

SANTA ANA – Nearly 100 roosters allegedly bred for cockfighting were discovered Tuesday in the largest bust in Santa Ana in recent years, police said.

Officers found cages full of birds in the back yards of two houses in the 1600 block of West Second Street, as well as a garage converted into a fighting ring, a ledger filled with bets and metal leg spurs. Cockfighting, which is illegal, involves two roosters with razor-sharp metal spurs called gaffs attached to their legs that are used to puncture and tear their opponent's skin during a battle that ends in death.

"It's extremely inhumane," said police Sgt. Baltazar De La Riva. "The sole purpose of these animals was to be used in cockfights."

All 90 birds, mostly roosters but which included hens and chicks, were euthanized because they displayed symptoms of the highly contagious exotic Newcastle disease. De La Riva described the discovery as the largest in recent history in Santa Ana, where last month 16 percent of animal-services calls were rooster-related. Some Mexican immigrants raise roosters as pets or to eat without realizing they are not allowed in the city.

In recent years, other busts around the county have each turned up anywhere from 12 to 30 roosters. Last year, a Garden Grove man was sentenced to a month in jail after police seized 31 from his house.

Santa Ana animal-services officer Joni Page said some of the birds were suffering from recent injuries and had infected wounds. She said the inside of the garage, where fights allegedly occurred, appeared splattered with blood and contained bar stools for spectators.

The fowl were discovered when animal-control officers responding to an unrelated call Tuesday afternoon heard roosters crowing. They looked over a backyard fence and saw the birds. They found about 50 roosters and fighting equipment.

Two doors down, officers found an additional 40 birds and a notebook detailing matches.

Police cited Jesus Dimas Leon, 69, and Gonzalos Pena, 57, for possession of roosters, De La Riva said.

The misdemeanor counts come with a possible fine of $65 per rooster. The two men could also face cockfighting charges - also misdemeanors – after the case is reviewed by the District Attorney's Office.

Most neighbors said they were accustomed to hearing roosters in the morning but said they had no idea of the large number.

Another neighbor said that every Sunday morning, carloads of men showed up to bet on the roosters.

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Bettendorf News, IA

Last Updated: 8:01 pm, Tuesday, March 4th, 2003
Iowa, Illinois limit poultry imports
By Thomas Geyer

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1008925&l=1&t=Business&c=31,1008925

Iowa agriculture Secretary Patty Judge and Illinois state veterinarian Dr. Richard Hull are enforcing a ban on imports of chickens and other avian products from parts of California, Nevada and Arizona after deadly Exotic Newcastle Disease began infecting flocks in areas of those states.

Officials say the affliction was brought to the United States from Mexico via illegal gaming birds, specifically, fighting chickens.

Judge’s order took effect Jan. 22 and was made to protect Iowa’s thriving poultry industry, which was No. 1 in total egg production in the United States in 2001 and 2002, overtaking Ohio, which now is the nation’s No. 2 egg producer, she said.

Additionally, said Machelle Shaffer, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa is now No. 9 nationally in turkey, processing an estimated 499 million pounds annually and generating $141 million.

Exotic Newcastle Disease, or END is highly contagious and first confirmed Oct. 1 in southern California by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, she said.

“The disease has costs California millions of dollars,” she said. “Just about all of southern California is under quarantine, and Calif. Gov. Gray Davis has declared a state of emergency.”

A federal quarantine was imposed on Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in California, according to officials at APHIS.

On Jan. 16, END was found in a flock of chickens in Las Vegas, Nevada, she said and, more recently, in a flock in Arizona. APHIS then imposed a federal quarantine of the Arizona counties of Clark and Nye.

On Feb. 4, END was confirmed in Arizona’s Colorado River Indian Nation, forcing APHIS to quarantine La Paz, Yuma and Mohave counties.

No poultry or avian products from the quarantined areas, or any that may have passed through the quarantine line, will be allowed in Iowa, Shaffer said.

“We have stopped the importation of any poultry or poultry products that originated or passed through the quarantined areas,” he said.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and veterinarians from across the country have been in California, fighting the disease with a full-scale eradication program, Shaffer said.

Symptoms of the poultry disease include drop in egg production, production of thin-shelled eggs, paralysis, drooping wings, circling, twisting of the head and neck, swelling around the eyes and neck area, and sudden death, Iowa State Veterinarian Dr. John Schlitz said.

“There is no effective cure for this disease,” he added. “The only way to eradicate Exotic Newcastle Disease is by strict surveillance, quarantine and depopulation efforts.”

In addition to chickens, species that are susceptible to the disease are turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasants, quail and pigeons, he said. Iowa’s ban on avian products covers everything from eggs to live chickens to birds for pet shops, he added.

Dr. Patrick Webb, Iowa’s foreign animal disease program coordinator, spent three weeks in California helping with relief efforts.

To the best of anyone’s knowledge, he said, the disease started in illegal fighting chickens and was spread to the commercial industry.

“It came in with illegal gaming birds, fighting chickens from Mexico,” he said, adding that illegal chicken fighting is a multimillion dollar industry.

“Mexico and southern California are reputed breeding and training areas for fighting chickens,” he said.

END is to the poultry industry what foot and mouth disease is to the pork and cattle industry, he said.

While the virus does not affect humans, people can carry it on their clothes and shoes, just like the foot and mouth virus, Webb said.

Those birds found to have the disease are humanely euthanized, he added.

Wildlife is not a major factor in transferring the disease, he said. And Iowa can control the movement of products from the industry.

The worry, he said, is the illegal birds.

“The problem is the people who own illegal fighting chickens,” he said. “Because they’re worth so much money, people