FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2002
Contact: Mark Anthony, ODA Communications, 614-752-9817

Ohio Extends Import Ban on Live Poultry to Include West Virginia
Precaution Taken to Prevent Spread of Avian Influenza to Ohio Flocks

REYNOLDSBURG  -- The State of Ohio today announced it will prohibit the importation into Ohio of any live chickens or turkeys from West Virginia as a precautionary step to prevent the spread of avian influenza (AI). The import ban, issued by proclamation by Governor Bob Taft, takes effect immediately. The highly contagious viral disease, which is generally not harmful to humans but could devastate the state’s poultry production, was identified in West Virginia last week, after being found in North Carolina in late April and lingering in Virginia since mid-March. The state barred live poultry imports from those states last week.

As a large producer of turkeys, broilers, and layers – and the nation’s second largest egg producer –  Ohio’s poultry industry brings in $468 million a year in farm receipts, ultimately contributing as much as $3.3 billion to the state’s economy, according to State Agriculture Director Fred Dailey. (EDITORS: Please view fact sheet for more on the poultry industry’s contribution to the Ohio economy.)

AI can be transmitted to poultry when they come in contact with influenza virus particles in nasal and respiratory secretions and feces of other poultry and waterfowl, and by contaminated vehicles, crates, equipment, and people. The strains found in the three states are categorized as “low-path,” or low mortality -- it sickens them to the point where production is depressed. In Ohio, a flock infected with the virus would be quarantined immediately, and may need to be destroyed to contain the disease. State animal health officials are also concerned that this strain could mutate to one of the more virulent “high-path” strains, which happened in Pennsylvania in 1984.

The ban on live poultry imports from the three states comes just as many small hatcheries are beginning to send chicks and poults (juvenile turkeys) cross-country to fill mail orders and the season begins for poultry swaps and shows for both commercial breeders and hobbyists. Information on biosecurity precautions producers should take to keep the virus off their farms may be found at the department’s Web site, www.state.oh.us/agr/.

The ban will be lifted for each state thirty days after the last quarantine in each state is lifted. It was issued under a section of state law, ORC 941.10 (B), that allows the Governor, acting on information from the state agriculture director, to restrict the importation of any animal from another state that may carry a disease that could endanger the health of animals in Ohio.

The ban supplements Ohio regulations already in place allowing the refusal of poultry imports from quarantined farms or areas in states where outbreaks have occurred. There is also a long-standing state requirement that all animals brought into Ohio be disease-free. The state agriculture department monitors the health and movement of all livestock and poultry in Ohio for the presence of infectious animal diseases.

Those wanting more information on avian influenza or the regulatory restrictions on importation of poultry from other states may call the department’s Division of Animal Industry toll-free at 800-282-1955.

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