Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the highest health official of the nation, has a non -orthodox idea to deal with US poultry farms for avian influenza. Let the virus tear.
Instead of breaking down birds when the infection is discovered, farmers “should perhaps consider the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that they can identify the birds and preserve birds, which are immune to it,” said Kennedy recently on Fox News.
He repeated the idea in other interviews on the channel.
Kennedy has no jurisdiction on farms. But Brooke Rollins, the secretary of agriculture, also expressed support for the idea.
“There are some farmers who are out there who are willing to really try this on a pilot while we build the safe perimeter around them to see if there is a way to follow with immunity,” said Mrs. Rollins in Fox News last month.
Yet veterinary scientists have said that letting the virus sweep through the storms of poultry without control would be inhuman and dangerous and have enormous economic consequences.
“This is a truly terrible idea, for a series of reasons,” said dr. Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas.
Since January 2022, there have been more than 1,600 outbreaks reported on farms and courtyard flocks, which occur in each state. More than 166 million birds have been affected.
Each infection is another opportunity for the virus, called H5N1, to evolve into a more virulent form. The geneticists have closely monitored their mutations; So far, the virus has not developed the ability to spread among people.
But if in H5n1 it should be authorized to pass through a flock of five million birds, “there are literally five million possibilities to replicate or mutter that virus,” said Dr. Hansen.
It is likely that a large number of infected birds transmits huge quantities of viruses, putting agricultural workers and other animals at risk.
“So now you are preparing because bad things happen,” said Dr. Hansen. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”
Emily Hilliard, deputy press secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said that Mr. Kennedy’s comments aimed to protect people “from the most dangerous version of the current influence of birds, which is found in chickens”.
“The demolition puts people at the maximum risk of exposure, which is why secretary Kennedy and Nih want to limit the demolition activities,” he said, referring to the National Institutes of Health. “The demolition is not the solution.
In her plan to fight avian influence, Mrs. Rollins recommended to strengthen biosyphicity in farms, preventing the virus from entering their premises or stopping it with a rigorous cleaning and use of protective equipment.
But this is a long -term solution. The USDA is starting those efforts in just ten states.
The virus has taken root for the first time among the wild birds, which transmitted it to domestic poultry and various species of mammals. Now a single infected duck that flies over the head can drop the excrements on a farm, where a chicken or turkey can ingest it.
The agricultural poultry has a weak immune system and are under a huge environmental stress, often put together in scarcely ventilated wires or barrels. Within a day, H5n1 can sick up to a third of a flock.
Infected birds can develop serious respiratory symptoms, diarrhea, trembles and torsion of the neck and produce deformed or fragile eggs. Many die panting for breath. (Some birds suddenly die without showing any symptoms.)
The speed with which the collapse of infected birds was mentioned as a reason why officials believe that eggs are safe for consumption. Most sick birds die before they can lay an egg or are so visibly sick that it is easy to filter them.
Pollame breeders call the authorities as soon as they identify the signs of illness or death. If the tests prove to be positive for avian influence, they are reimbursed for killing the rest of the flock before the virus extends further away.
If the farmers should instead let the virus go through the farm, “these infections would cause very painful deaths in almost 100 % of chickens and turkeys,” said dr. David Swayne, a poultry veterinarian who worked on Usda for almost 30 years.
The result would be “inhuman, resulting in an unacceptable crisis of animal welfare,” he added. (Methods to break down birds can also be cruel but at least are generally faster.)
Farmers who break down infected flocks must also clean the premises and pass the audit before refueling. They are often anxious to quickly solve the crisis. Simply taking a step back would have serious financial consequences.
The strategy “means a longer quarantine, plus inactivity times, more lost and higher expenses entries”, said an Usa scientist who was not authorized to speak to the media.
Kennedy suggested that a subset of poultry could naturally be immune from avian influence. But the chickens and turkeys are lacking in the genes needed to resist the virus, the experts said.
“The way we breed the birds now, there is not much genetic variability,” said dr. Hansen. “They are all the same bird, in essence.”
The public health regulations would prohibit the very few birds that could survive to be sold by an infection. In any case, those birds could be protected only with respect to the current version of H5n1, not of others that emerge while the virus continues to evolve.
“Biology and immunology do not work in this way,” said dr. Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin veterinary diagnostic laboratory.
Letting the virus spread without control would also lead to commercial embargo against poultry from the United States, he added: “There is immediately a huge economic loss”.
In an interview with Fox News, Mr. Kennedy also suggested that the virus “does not seem to hurt wild birds – have a sort of immunity”.
In fact, while the ducks and coastal birds may not show symptoms, H5n1 killed birds of prey, aquatic birds, sand hills and snow gear, among many other species.