By some measures, the ongoing outbreaks of avian flu in British Columbia pale when compared to the devastating eruption of the disease in 2004 that prompted a cull of 17 million birds.
“The scale is completely different,” Burns said in an interview, compared to previous B.C. outbreaks in 2004, 2009 and 2014. Earl Brown, a flu virologist at the University of Ottawa, said at the time it was likely an infected waterfowl had been blown across the North Atlantic to Newfoundland. The agency's latest available data shows there have been 203 infected flocks countrywide, affecting 3,632,000 birds, as of Nov. 3.
Avian flu is spread through contact with an infected bird or its feces or nasal secretions. Farm birds that go outside are most at risk because they can come in direct contact with infected wild birds or their feces.Nickel said the scale of the spread of H5N1 had one benefit - it has prompted more co-ordination between farmers, CFIA and various levels of government.
CFIA statistics show 28 flocks in B.C., with 275,700 birds, have been infected by avian flu this year. “The heightened level of concern around biosecurity, I think, has gotten even more intense, not only in B.C., but across the country,” Nickel said in an interview. “There's really two reasons: the birds are really sick and there is no viable treatment to prevent spread,” she said.