Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s prime well being official, has an unorthodox thought for tackling the hen flu bedeviling U.S. poultry farms. Let the virus rip.
As a substitute of culling birds when the an infection is found, farmers “ought to think about possibly the opportunity of letting it run by the flock in order that we will determine the birds, and protect the birds, which might be resistant to it,” Mr. Kennedy stated lately on Fox Information.
He has repeated the concept in other interviews on the channel.
Mr. Kennedy doesn’t have jurisdiction over farms. However Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, additionally has voiced assist for the notion.
“There are some farmers which might be on the market which might be keen to essentially do this on a pilot as we construct the protected perimeter round them to see if there’s a approach ahead with immunity,” Ms. Rollins informed Fox Information final month.
But veterinary scientists stated letting the virus sweep by poultry flocks unchecked can be inhumane and harmful, and have huge financial penalties.
“That’s a extremely horrible thought, for any one in every of a variety of causes,” stated Dr. Gail Hansen, a former state veterinarian for Kansas.
Since January 2022, there have been greater than 1,600 outbreaks reported on farms and yard flocks, occurring in each state. Greater than 166 million birds have been affected.
Each an infection is one other alternative for the virus, referred to as H5N1, to evolve right into a extra virulent type. Geneticists have been monitoring its mutations carefully; up to now, the virus has not developed the flexibility to unfold amongst folks.
But when H5N1 had been to be allowed to run by a flock of 5 million birds, “that’s actually 5 million possibilities for that virus to copy or to mutate,” Dr. Hansen stated.
Massive numbers of contaminated birds are prone to transmit huge quantities of the virus, placing farm employees and different animals at nice threat.
“So now you’re setting your self up for dangerous issues to occur,” Dr. Hansen stated. “It’s a recipe for catastrophe.”
Emily Hilliard, the deputy press secretary on the Division of Well being and Human Companies, stated Mr. Kennedy’s feedback had been geared toward defending folks “from probably the most harmful model of the present hen flu, which is present in chickens.”
“Culling places folks on the highest threat of publicity, which is why Secretary Kennedy and N.I.H. wish to restrict culling actions,” she stated, referring to the Nationwide Institutes of Well being. “Culling just isn’t the answer. Sturdy biosecurity is.”
In her plan to fight hen flu, Ms. Rollins beneficial strengthening biosecurity on farms — preventing the virus from entering their premises, or halting its unfold with stringent cleansing and use of protecting gear.
However that could be a longer-term resolution. The usD.A. is starting these efforts in simply ten states.
The virus first took root amongst wild birds, which transmitted it to home poultry and varied mammal species. Now a single contaminated duck flying overhead might drop excrement onto a farm, the place a hen or turkey might ingest it.
Farmed poultry have weak immune programs and are beneath huge environmental stress, usually packed collectively in wire cages or poorly ventilated barns. Inside a day, H5N1 can sicken as a lot as a 3rd of a flock.
Contaminated birds can develop extreme respiratory signs, diarrhea, tremors and twisting of their necks, and produce misshapen or fragile eggs. Many die gasping for breath. (Some birds die instantly with out displaying any signs in any respect.)
The pace with which contaminated birds collapse has been cited as one cause that officers consider eggs to be protected for consumption. Most sick birds die earlier than they will lay an egg, or are so visibly diseased that it’s simple to filter them out.
Poultry farmers name the authorities as quickly as they spot the indicators of sickness or demise. If the assessments flip up constructive for hen flu, they’re reimbursed for killing the rest of the flock earlier than the virus spreads any farther.
If farmers had been as a substitute to let the virus make its approach throughout the farm, “these infections would trigger very painful deaths in practically one hundred pc of the chickens and turkeys,” stated Dr. David Swayne, a poultry veterinarian who labored at the usD.A. for practically 30 years.
The outcome can be “inhumane, leading to an unacceptable animal welfare disaster,” he added. (Strategies to cull birds can also be cruel however at the least are usually quicker.)
Farmers who cull contaminated flocks should additionally clear the premises and move audits earlier than restocking. They’re usually desperate to resolve the disaster rapidly. Merely stepping again would have severe monetary penalties.
The technique “means longer quarantine, extra downtime, extra misplaced income and elevated bills,” stated a U.S.D.A. scientist who was not licensed to talk to the media.
Mr. Kennedy has urged {that a} subset of poultry is perhaps naturally resistant to hen flu. However chickens and turkeys lack the genes wanted to withstand the virus, specialists stated.
“The way in which we increase birds now, there’s not a variety of genetic variability,” Dr. Hansen stated. “They’re all the identical hen, mainly.”
Public well being rules would forbid the only a few birds that may survive an an infection from being offered. In any occasion, these birds may solely be protected in opposition to the present model of H5N1, not others that emerge because the virus continues to evolve.
“The biology and the immunology doesn’t work that approach,” stated Dr. Keith Poulsen, the director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
Letting the virus unfold unchecked would additionally possible result in commerce embargoes in opposition to poultry from america, he added: “There’s an enormous financial loss instantly.”
In a single interview with Fox Information, Mr. Kennedy additionally urged that the virus “doesn’t seem to harm wild birds — they’ve some form of immunity.”
In truth, whereas geese and shorebirds might not present signs, H5N1 has killed raptors, waterfowl, sand hill cranes and snow geese, amongst many different species.
