Andrew McClelland
The Advocate
Avian flu has been discovered at a commercial poultry operation in the Outaouais region, in the MRC of Papineau, causing the death and euthanization of approximately 17,000 birds.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported the case Jan. 3, noting that the contamination is “unusual” during the winter season. The case is the first confirmed in the Outaouais since 2002.
“It’s surprising us to have cases (of avian flu) in winter,” noted Martin Pelletier, director general of the Équipe québécoise de contrôle des maladies avicoles (EQCMA), a non-profit that works with government authorities to prevent and control diseases in the poultry industry.
“The farm was right in front of a lake where a pump ensures that the body of water doesn’t freeze,” Pelletier told the French-language daily Le Devoir. “It attracts waterflies. With a surface that is not frozen nearby, there is a greater chance that (wild) birds will winter near us (and contaminate domestic birds). That’s an obvious risk factor.”
The case was detected at Abattoir Charron, a family-run commercial poultry slaughterhouse in St. André-Avellin. Approximately 30 employees had to take a leave of absence from work while the facilities were sterilized.
As is customary in cases of avian flu, the federal food inspection agency has declared a wide radius around the site of contamination a possible infection zone. The wilderness as far as Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix to the north and North Nation Mills to the south is included in the agency’s “primary control zone.”
See AVIAN FLU, Page 4.
AVIAN FLU: Number of birds affected by flu in Canada hit 10-million mark this year
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“We are very surprised. We know the company is careful in its procedures, in its protocols,” said Jean-René Carrière, mayor of St. André-Avellin, in a interview with Radio-Canada.
“We thought we were safe. Then, we realized that no one is safe. If there are regions that have been spared until now, redouble your efforts: you never know when (the flu) will arrive in your area,” Carrière said.
Biosecurity authorities are particularly worried about a new virulent strain of avian flu that can be transmitted from wild birds, like ducks, to domesticated fowl. Unlike earlier strains of the flu, the virus survives in cold weather and seems to find lakes and wetlands a fertile breeding ground.
The Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec is quick to point out that avian flu is rarely transmitted from birds to humans. In the rare cases when it is transmitted, the virus usually infects people who work in the poultry industry — either on farms, in slaughterhouses or at live poultry markets.
Since 2022, avian flu has caused the death of more than 1 million farmed birds in Quebec. Across Canada, the number of affected animals exceeded the 10-million mark this winter.
Decades ago, outbreaks of avian flu were known to flare up across the globe but would dry up with dryer weather in days or hours. However, this seasonal type of flu has now reached the point where avian flu is now endemic in European countries. The H5N1 strain has been detected in 76 countries in 273 breeds of birds.
There are currently 58 outbreaks in Canada, most in the province of British Columbia.