Avian flu spread in the US worries poultry industry

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NEW YORK - A highly contagious and deadly form of avian influenza has been barrelling across the eastern half of the United States in recent weeks, killing wild birds and farmed poultry and raising f

ears that an unchecked outbreak could prove calamitous for an industry that was devastated by a similar virus seven years ago.

"It's very concerning given how quickly this thing is accelerating," said Dr Henry Niman, a biochemist in Pittsburgh who studies the genetic evolution of viruses and has been tracking the outbreak's spread across the country."I think we could see historic levels of infections." "It's important to note that avian influenza is not considered to be a risk to public health and it's not a food safety risk," Mr Mike Stepien, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in an email.

The virus has also been coursing through Asia, the Middle East and Europe. In recent weeks, 300 outbreaks have been reported in 29 European countries. In Israel, an outbreak at a nature reserve killed thousands of cranes. For a growing number of scientists, the real threat is the nation's industrialised system of meat and dairy production, with its reliance on genetically identical creatures packed by the thousands inside huge confinement sheds.

 

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