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News Release 5-16-2002

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AVIAN INFLUENZA TESTING CONTINUES IN WEST VIRGINIA

Limited test results for Avian Influenza (AI) in the Moorefield area so far are negative, according to the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA). Sampling was conducted at all poultry farms within a two-mile radius of a farm found last week to be infected with the disease, which poses no threat to human health. All those test results are negative.

However, that does not necessarily mean that West Virginia is AI free. “Test results so far are negative, but we are expanding our sampling radius to six miles, on the advice of APHIS experts assisting us with our testing protocols,” said Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Hannah. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In Virginia, 120 APHIS personnel, along with 61 other federal personnel, are assisting Virginia with the AI outbreak in that state.

Most of West Virginia’s samples have been sent to laboratories in Virginia, which has been dealing with the disease for months. Other samples continue to be processed by the laboratories at the WVDA Guthrie Agricultural Center and by Animal Health Division personnel that have been temporarily reassigned to the WVDA office in Moorefield.

The bans enacted by Commissioner Douglass on poultry and egg shows remain in effect, as well as his ban on the movement of poultry among farms within the state.

The West Virginia poultry industry adds $200 million to the state’s economy annually and employs more than 5,000 people. An extended AI outbreak could cripple the state’s ability to ship poultry out-of-state and overseas.

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