Velogenic Newcastle Disease (VND) has turned up for the first time in poultry specimens submitted from Belize, the Press Office reported today.
The virulent form of the virus, it is considered “highly contagious” and is known to cause the death of up to 90% of an affected flock within 48-72 hours without noticeable signs. For egg-laying chickens, a drop in production is the only warning before death comes in 48 hours, again wiping out most of the flock, according to the release.
Chickens affected by VND, also known as Exotic Newcastle Disease and Asiatic Newcastle Disease and discovered in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1926, show loss of appetite, fever, depression, diarrhea, stiff and twisted neck, head tremors, wing and leg paralysis, head swelling and discoloration, and increased respiratory problems.
There is no treatment for the disease, and once introduced, it can only be contained by quarantining the affected area and keeping humans out.
Apart from conjunctivitis (“pink eye”) and flu-like symptoms in humans exposed to poultry processing plants and areas affected by VND, humans are not affected by the disease if caught, and poultry infected with VND is still safe for consumption, Belize Poultry Association’s manager Orlando Habet assured us.
As for how VND made it into Belize (it is endemic across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean and most of the Americas) Habet told Amandala today that the virus appeared on a farm in the Spanish Lookout area about a week or so ago. The farm was immediately quarantined, samples of the affected birds taken and sent to the United States Department of Agriculture Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, U.S.A., and the birds destroyed as a precaution. Authorities have not indicated how many birds were affected. Habet tells us that the Association and BAHA are still tracing how the virus made it into Belize and from where it originated.
According to Habet, neither the boilers (chickens used for the local market) nor the layers (chickens used to produce eggs) were properly grown and were not nearly ready for the market, or for consumption.
No other farms have been affected, as far as the Belize Agricultural Health Authority (BAHA) or the Poultry Association knows, and warnings have been issued that the farm in question is not to be visited. Meat-type chickens were not affected in the outbreak.
The release advises producers to regularly inspect poultry, maintain good bio-security practices and report suspicious clinical signs and unusual deaths to BAHA, the Association or the Ministry of Agriculture.
BAHA itself will step up inspections of all chicken slaughterhouses and says the outbreak is being “controlled.”
What does this mean for consumers used to chicken for Sunday dinner and eggs as a regular part of their diet?
Habet tells us that an egg shortage is possible in December, but was quick to add that it was not because of the VND outbreak, but because of increased demand. Chicken will not be affected, he said.