Health
Bird flu is on the way. Your neighbors aren't worried yet.
PRATTEVILLE, Colo. – Federal scientists in biohazard suits standing outside a huge but virtually deserted chicken farm don't need to say a word to indicate that something is terribly wrong.
On a normal day, the farm's driveway would be filled with trucks, some loaded with feed, others carrying crates and cartons of eggs destined for grocery stores and restaurants across the West.
But on a recent afternoon, all was quiet except for a few workers milling about the vast farm grounds and two white-suited specialists from the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service tucking their trouser legs into their trousers and carefully taping them to their boots.
Although the federal inspectors can't say anything publicly, their presence indicates that public health experts across the country are increasingly concerned about an outbreak of “highly pathogenic avian influenza,” or bird flu, in this rural farming town about 40 miles northeast of Denver.
Gov. Jared Polis declared a disaster emergency and released $3.5 million in funding for surveillance, testing and safety equipment, federal officials gave repeated briefings to reporters and workers again culled millions of chickens to slow the spread of the disease.
But while state and federal officials are responding hyper-vigilantly to the virus and the dangers it poses, their neighbors seem unconcerned.
“I know all the farmers are affected, but it doesn't affect us,” said Gail Balcomb, 63, sitting outside the Silver Spur Bar, a few miles from one of the affected chicken farms.
Most of all, she was grateful that someone else had shouldered the responsibility of killing so many chickens. “I don't want that job,” she said.
But the outbreak is also having local effects: The Southeast Weld County Fair, scheduled to begin Aug. 8, is switching to an online, photo-only chicken contest to avoid large gatherings of chickens, and state officials are urging other county fairs and livestock events to be especially careful about showing and mixing cattle and other animals.
State veterinarians have also restricted the movement of poultry and eggs through much of Weld County, and federal officials are also requiring dairy cattle being transported across state lines to be tested for avian influenza unless they are being directly slaughtered.
The situation is similar to a similar outbreak in 2022, but the new strain appears to have first infected a nearby dairy herd before spreading to a poultry flock in Weld County. With 10 farm workersState officials said they don't yet know how the virus spread between farms.
Risks to people
So far, both cows and people have only experienced mild illness. The current virus slows milk production in cows and causes respiratory symptoms and conjunctivitis in people.
Experts say the biggest risk is that people with seasonal flu could also become infected with bird flu, and the two viruses could swap genetic material and create a deadly new one.
“Avian flu, in particular, tends to make everyone a little anxious,” said Dr. Michelle Baron, senior medical director of infection prevention and control at UCHealth and a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, which serves Colorado and parts of Wyoming and Nebraska.
“Right now, the symptoms are pretty mild, but influenza viruses in general tend to mutate and change,” Baron added. “As far as we know, there is no person-to-person transmission, but that's a concern.”
None of the infected farmworkers required hospitalization, officials said, but federal and state experts are closely monitoring the outbreak, and Governor Polis last month ordered commercial dairy farms to test milk weekly for signs of the virus.
Neither federal nor state officials at the scene would say whether this particular chicken farm was affected by the outbreak — state officials cited a Colorado law that bars them from releasing that information — and the farm's owner did not respond to a request for comment.
Colorado is home to over 100 dairy farms and approximately 200,000 dairy cows, most of which are concentrated on large farms in Weld County. Weld County also has numerous poultry farms and is an important habitat for migratory birds.
Federal officials say wild birds can carry a mild viral infection and transmit it to farmed chickens or turkeys, with a mortality rate of up to 90 percent. Bald Eagle, Fox, Skunk At least one bear has been spotted in Colorado, and in a statement on August 2, state officials said the outbreak was not caused by wild birds.
To slow the spread, Colorado farmworkers have culled 3.5 million chickens this year, and more than 6 million chickens between 2022 and 2023 during what was then the largest outbreak of an invasive animal disease in state history. Colorado farms typically produce about 1.5 billion eggs a year and raise about 5 million chickens statewide.
Government officials have not revealed the specific locations of the outbreaks, making it impossible to determine whether outbreaks are occurring repeatedly on the same farms or to examine the economic impact of culling or closures on individual workers.
Weld County is larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined and relies heavily on agricultural production as well as oil and gas extraction.
State agriculture officials said in a written response to USA Today that they were still assessing the economic impact of the outbreak. They said workers at the 30 farms have been provided with protective equipment and that anyone with symptoms who has come into contact with infected animals or people can get tested.
Federal public health experts say most Colorado farmworkers who have fallen ill There is a high possibility that the protective clothing was displaced, causing the infection. In 100+ degree heat, they grabbed the chickens one by one and stuffed them into enclosures filled with carbon dioxide, suffocating them to death.
Why is there an avian flu problem in Colorado?
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, avian influenza infections in cattle have declined significantly nationwide, but about 20 infected cattle have been confirmed in Colorado.
Federal officials have said Colorado may be an exception because it tests more frequently than other states, but they also suggested “quirks of history and geography” in Weld County may also be playing a role.
Colorado has fewer dairy farms than other large milk-producing states, but most of them are concentrated in Weld County, which is adjacent to poultry farms and bird migration routes.
“Because the farms are all located in close proximity to each other, there's a lot of sharing of equipment and personnel and a lot of traffic from farm to farm,” Dr. Eric Deeble, USDA's assistant secretary for marketing and regulatory programs, told reporters on a recent conference call.
Veterinarian Deeble said Colorado producers, state and federal regulators and health experts should be commended for their cooperation.
“As a result, we've seen relatively high rates of testing and we're getting some very good answers and some very good insight into the patterns of this disease,” Deeble said.
Quiet Colorado chicken farm gets fumigated
At the Weld County chicken farm, a few workers milled around the gravel yards between the dozens of long, yellow, one-story buildings where the chickens are raised and eggs are laid.
The ventilation fans were silent, and the building had new, temporary signs in English and Spanish warning people that it had been fumigated with formaldehyde, a common poultry disinfectant.
The building has no windows, so workers can use lights to trick the chickens into thinking it's always spring, encouraging them to lay eggs more frequently. Job ads for egg processors on the farm offer about $20 an hour and encourage bilingual skills.
Barron, the infection control expert, said he expects state and federal officials to work hard to ensure farmworkers and their families have access to appropriate virus testing.
Clinicians may not test patients with mild respiratory symptoms if they haven't had direct contact with animals, she said, especially because there are no commercially available test kits and all must be sent to a state lab. Positive results are then confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Barron said the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges that can come with protecting workers on Weld County farms who don't speak much English or who may not be employed legally. Workers at risk of being fired or deported may be afraid to speak up, especially if they're not feeling well, Barron said.
Public health officials need to make sure they're properly explaining to workers what's going on, including how cows get avian flu and why federal employees wear protective gear but farm workers don't, she said.
“They don't ask because they don't want to get in trouble,” Baron says. “When you don't have a lot of money or stability in that position, your mindset changes.”
State agriculture officials said in a statement that bilingual outreach workers spoke with 46 farmworkers but did not collect any personal information from them. The state also declined to comment on whether any farms had refused to participate in inspections and monitoring, other than to say they had seen “good” compliance.
“Close coordination and communication between all partners is critical to effectively responding to a complex outbreak,” the Colorado Department of Agriculture said in a statement. The department said no one was available for interviews over the course of a week.
Outside the Silver Spur Bar, Balcomb and friends chatted as cigarette smoke wafted through the air. The group said they know several farm workers who have been infected, but no one seems to be talking much about it. They lamented the loss of their high school’s Future Farmers of America fundraiser egg sale and worried about how the culling of chickens will affect egg prices again.
Still, there is little concern within the county.
“I don't see anybody glowing or anything like that,” laughed Katrina Windhorst, 61. Authorities are “making a big fuss about something small,” she said.
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