11th Mar 2010
Manitoba "Mock" avian flu drill (composts the virus?)
MHSC
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/local/story/3771928p-4362712c.html
34,000 chickens gassed in exercise
Mon Nov 13 2006
By Jen Skerritt
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On Nov. 3, 60 people from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) practised how they would contain and control an avian flu outbreak on an egg farm just outside Landmark. The outbreak exercise -- the largest ever staged in Western Canada --was held with the co-operation of the Manitoba Egg Producers and Manitoba Agriculture.
Sandra Stephens, a disease control specialist with CFIA, said crews continued to monitor the farm until the end of last week.
In the event of a real bird flu outbreak, crews would be required to check whether the disease was successfully decomposing, Stephens said.
"We have to be careful to make sure that when we destroy the animals and dispose of them we don't spread any disease," she said earlier last week.
Crews spent two days following guidelines on how to handle a bird flu outbreak. Participants donned head-to-toe protective gear -- including masks, goggles, disposable boots and gloves -- before going in to euthanize a flock of 34,000 chickens.
Stephens said the farmer volunteered his chickens for the exercise because the birds were no longer going to be used as laying hens and were destined to be euthanized anyway.
Crews sealed the chicken barn, shutting off and covering fans before flooding the area with carbon dioxide.
Stephens said it took only about 20 minutes before all the chickens were unconscious or dead.
Once the carbon dioxide was cleared out by the fans, crews removed the carcasses from the barn using wheelbarrows, cardboard bins and fabric bags. They were moved to a manure shed next to the barn, where they were left to decompose as compost inside straw and manure.
Stephens said compost is a natural way to destroy the virus because it reaches a temperature between 45 and 50 C as it breaks down.
"If you can raise the temperature high enough for long enough, viruses become inactive," she said. It usually takes between seven and 10 days for a virus to compost.
Overall, Stephens said the exercise was successful at containing the mock virus.
However, she said there were certain problems that arose with the gear that CFIA plans on improving in the new year.
The cold weather made it difficult for crews to work, since their goggles kept fogging up. There were also no decontamination showers on site.
She said the CFIA is looking at purchasing new goggles and respirators in the new year, along with investing in portable showers.
jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca
-- with files from Canadian Press
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