NEWCASTLE DISEASE, GAME BIRDS - USA (CALIFORNIA): OIE
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Date: 4 October 2002
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Office International des Epizooties (OIE), Disease Information 4 
October 2002 [edited]
<http://www.oie.int/eng/info/hebdo/AIS_51.HTM#Sec1>


Emergency report: Newcastle disease in the USA
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(Date of previous reported outbreak: June 1998)
Information reported on 3 October 2002 from Dr Peter Fernandez, associate 
deputy administrator, International Services, United States Department of 
Agriculture (USDA), Washington, DC.
Nature of diagnosis: clinical and laboratory.
Date of initial detection of animal health incident: 26 September 2002.
Estimated date of first infection: 19 September 2002.
One outbreak in Los Angeles County, State of California, in the western 
part of the USA.
Description of affected population: the disease was found in game fowl in 
backyard flock locations. There are 2 laboratory confirmed positive 
premises and 4 premises that have epidemiological links to the positive 
premises and/or clinical signs present. No commercial poultry are affected.

Total number of animals in the outbreak:
species / susceptible / cases / deaths / destroyed / slaughtered
avi / about 3000 / ... / about 400 / about 150 / ...

The diagnosis was made by virus isolation at the National Veterinary 
Services Laboratories, Ames, Iowa. The causal agent  is paramyxovirus 
type-1. The virus was found to have multiple basic amino acids at the 
fusion (F) protein cleavage activation site: arg. arg. glu. lys. arg* phe, 
a sequence compatible with that of mesogenic/velogenic pathotypes. 
Re-isolation of the virus from the original specimen is in progress.

Epidemiology:
A. Source of agent / origin of infection: unknown. An evaluation of bird 
movements and movements of people and fomites is ongoing.
B. Mode of spread: direct contact, fomites.
C. Other epidemiological details: epidemiological investigations are 
ongoing to determine the extent of spread. Intensive surveillance is being 
conducted door-to-door in the affected areas.
Control measures: quarantine of affected backyard premises, depopulation of 
affected/exposed game fowl. Epidemiological tracing is ongoing.

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[This is a potentially explosive situation because of the extremely rapid 
spread and easy transmissibility of the virus, high mortality in birds, the 
particular poultry subpopulation involved, and the time which has elapsed 
since the first incident. All this means hard work and good luck will be 
required in order to get a quick eradication as occurred in the 1998 
outbreak in Southern California -- see references below.

These birds in Southern California present a unique challenge because they 
are most likely fighting game cocks. Unfortunately, the outbreak appears to 
be located only a short distance from California's commercial layer 
establishments. Fighting game cocks are a population that travels a great 
deal and present several significant challenges. The good news is that no 
new flocks have been identified today -- a day after Peter Fernandez 
assembled his report. Since animal cruelty laws in the United States ban 
this activity in California and all but 3 other states, disease control 
officials will have more than their usual share of owner compliance issue 
to deal with. Another difficulty lies in the fact that fighting cocks 
populations present a significant epidemiologic challenge because their 
reason for living is to congregate and fight, which means be in close 
contact with other birds for an afternoon and evening and then return home 
if they haven't been too mutilated by the day's "sporting" activities. The 
congregation and dispersal, of course, will promote the spread of disease 
to new back yard game flocks and make the tracing of birds from the 
original outbreak flock much more complicated. Finally, some of these 
fighting cocks will be worth substantial amounts of money. Birds may travel 
great distances to fight other highly touted birds, increasing the 
potential for spread out of state. We can only hope that birds valuable 
enough to travel very far were valuable enough for the owners to have 
vaccinated against Newcastle Disease.

I understand considerable resources are being devoted to tracing birds from 
the outbreak site and that the implementation of surveillance strategies is 
progressing fairly well. In addition to the eradication program currently 
under way in California, there are two important things to do now to 
prevent spread to new areas. First of all, commercial poultry flocks should 
increase their biosecurity efforts and be especially vigilant about 
employees' extracurricular activities. Most poultry companies require their 
employees to forgo any contact with other poultry including backyard flocks 
(their own, relatives or friends), cock fights, or any other type of 
contact with non commercial poultry but now is the time to really get the 
message across. Secondly, diagnostic laboratories, poultry veterinarians, 
and others involved in the industry should be particularly and acutely 
vigilant. Early diagnosis of spread will astronomically increase the 
chances of control of the disease if it moves outside its present 
confinement. Given that the disease may have been circulating in game cock 
populations for almost two weeks, any delay in the chain of control should 
be avoided, particularly if the disease moves into commercial populations. 
- Mod.PC]

[See also:
1999
---
Newcastle dis., imported wild birds - USA (Calif.)(02) 19991021.1881
Newcastle disease, imported wild birds - USA (Calif.)  19991016.1842
1998
---
Newcastle disease, game birds - USA (California)(05)   19981014.2033
Newcastle disease, game birds - USA (California)       19980615.1132]

..............pc/sh

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