“The scale of this outbreak has been unprecedented, so we think it is important
we take every possible step to limit the chance that this disease will spread any
further”
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey
commenting on the outbreak of H5N2 in Iowa and Washington State
Jamaicans,
if you're missing Chicken Meat on Sundays due to the ban on imported Chicken as
reported in my blog
article entitled “Ministry
of Agriculture bans US, Canadian Chicken Products - Why H5N2 Avian Flu is
Shadows of 2014 Chicken Shortage during Easter 2015”, fret not, we’re not
alone!
Turns
out our American counterparts are also having to forgoe eating Chicken meat.
Farmers
in the state of Washington having to slaughter some 40 million Chickens in the
month of May 2015 alone due to an outbreak of H5N2 as reported in the article “US
egg prices soar as avian flu batters poultry industry”, published Friday,
May 22, 2015, The Jamaica Observer.
 |
The
State of Washington also also declared a State of Emergency against the
Disease, which to be honest is the first I've ever known that was actually
possible. Health inspectors had discovered the H5N2 or avian flu had infected
birds on a 63rd Farm in the state and promptly banned any and all
public exhibition of Live birds at fairs, auctions, cockfights and other
events.
The
state of Iowa alone has killed some 25 million birds already in the month of
May 2015. The immediate result is that the price of Chicken and all Chicken
related products in the US of A has gone up by some 80%.
 |
They
join several other states in declaring themselves a disaster zone in terms of
having Chickens and wild birds infected with H5N2 as listed below:
1.
Kansas
2.
Arkansas
3.
Missouri
4.
Minnesota
5.
California
6.
Idaho
7.
Oregon
8.
Washington
Canada
has also seen an outbreak of H5N2 in the following Provinces:
1.
Ontario
2.
British Columbia
For
this reason, the Ministry of Agriculture here in Jamaica has banned the
importation of Chickens and all things derived from or related to Chickens
since Friday March 12th 2015 as chronicled in my blog article
entitled “Ministry
of Agriculture bans US, Canadian Chicken Products - Why H5N2 Avian Flu is
Shadows of 2014 Chicken Shortage during Easter 2015”.
So
the question begs; will H5N2 come to Jamaica!?
H5N2 Avian Flu now
causing State of Emergency in USA and Canada - Why Jamaica must protect out
local Poultry Industry
H5N2
or avian flu, is the bird-friend version of H1N1 Swine flu that ravaging India
as reported in my blog article
entitled “Jamaican
Chikungunya Outbreak possible – Why H1N1 Outbreak in Jamaica possible as 1,731
die in India from H1N1 Outbreak”.
H5N2
surfaced in 2014 in wild birds in the
far northwest state of Washington. Since then it has spread
as far as these wild birds flu to the states listed above, with infections
showing up in some fifteen (15) other states.
 |
That
potentially means that in May 2015 some 39 million birds have been infected
with this new strain of Avian Flu. There is a possibility that H5N1 can jump
from wild birds and poultry to humans like H5N1 in Asia back in 2004, but
that's been ruled by the US Centers for Disease Control as being highly
unlikely.
The
US H5N2 Outbreak has caused the WHO (World Health Organization) for Animal
Health, also called the OIE, to issue a general warning in the week of Friday
May 22nd 2015, as outbreaks of H5N2have been popping up like pop-up tents,
quote: “To prevent the disease from spreading, it is vital to implement
OIErecommended sub security measures in farms, in commerce and in live bird
markets, disease surveillance and early detection. While the role of wild birds
as reservoirs and vectors of the virus has been highlighted in these various
epidemics, other factors of transmission, especially among poultry farms, could
rise to prominence unless appropriate precautions are taken”.
So
if H5N2 is spreading globally, it’s only a matter of time before it comes to
Jamaica. Good to note here there is no treatment or cure for the H5N2 Virus;
you just have to kill the infected animals, quarantine the farm and ban sales
of Chicken products and associated byproducts.
Jamaica on alert for
H5N2 - Slaughtering all Chickens is a possibility & Mongoose and Crocodile
back on the menu
Still,
here in Jamaica, the Ministur of Agriculture isn’t taking any chances. They,
have imposed a ban on imported Chicken and all things Chicken related since
March 2015. Specifically we've banned the importation of the following items:
1.
By-products not fully cooked
2.
Feathers
3.
Hatching eggs
4.
Live birds
5.
Offal i.e. internal organs including
entrails from within the chickens
6.
Poultry
7.
Poultry products whether raw, chilled,
fresh or frozen
8.
Powdered Egg yolks and Egg whites
9.
Raw pet foods containing poultry
The
Ministry of Agriculture, working with the Public Health Department from the
Ministry of Health, has made plans to incinerate all imported Chicken. If H5N2
is detected in Jamaica, we might also have to declare a similar State of
Emergency in case H5N2 comes to our shores.
 |
We
would also have to slaughter all our Chickens, plunging Jamaica not only into a
Chicken shortage but a severe Egg shortage as well by December 2015 continuing
from 2014 as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Egg
Shortage in Jamaica set to continue to March 2014 - Poor Agricultural Planning
to blame as Cheap Meat shortages forcing many to become Ovo-Lacto Vegetarians”.
So
what will we do when Chickens go extinct, should this worst case scenario
occur?
Back
to eating Mongoose and Crocodile as meat replacement, as in that future, Eggs
will be short as predicted in my blog article
entitled “Jamaicans
now Eating Sly Mongoose as Chicken Back shortage Gets closer to Christmas -
Family and Community Gardens needed to Grow what we Eat and reduce Food Import
Bill”.
Mongoose
and Crocodile Tail soup anyone?
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