Texas Declares Bird Flu Outbreak Over

AUSTIN - Apr 1/04 - SNS -- Animal health officials in Texas say the outbreak of the H5N2 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) near Gonzales, Texas, has been eradicated, after tests on more than 352 noncommercial flocks did not detect additional infection.

For more than five weeks, a task force comprised of veterinarians and animal health inspectors from the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) and U.S. Department of Agriculture's Veterinary Services (USDA-VS) combed the area around Gonzales to locate and test noncommercial flocks, to ensure the contagious poultry virus had not spread from a single infected flock that was detected and depopulated in February. Disease surveillance samples submitted by commercial poultry operators in the area also have tested negative for the virus.

"The disease outbreak near Gonzales began in mid-February, when a different, more potentially pathogenic strain of AI was detected in at least 10 Asian countries. About that time, mild strains of the virus were detected in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York. Additionally a highly pathogenic strain of AI was detected in Canada. AI outbreaks were in the world's spotlight," said Dr. Max Coats, deputy director for Animal Health Programs for the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state's livestock and poultry health regulatory agency.

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