Bird Kingdom owner and manager Marilyn Vann is not gambling with the health of hundreds of birds at the Niagara Falls attraction.
“We would never take any chances. … The staff just wouldn’t stand for it,” she said.
Although two outbreaks of highly contagious H5N1 reported at southern Ontario poultry farms in the past week — including an outbreak declared at farm in West Lincoln on Tuesday, and an outbreak at a farm in Chatham on Friday — led to the closure of Toronto Zoo’s aviary exhibits, Vann said her business remains open.
“We think the risk is pretty low, but that’s not to say we’re not watching things very carefully,” she said. “If anything changes, we’ll do whatever has to be done for the safety of the birds.”
She said the business implemented protocols to protect the 75 species of birds within the fully enclosed indoor facility on River Road after avian influenza outbreaks were reported in Ontario almost a year ago. Those protocols have remained in place in the months since.
“We never stopped doing that,” she said, referring to procedures like using foot baths with hospital strength disinfectant to kill any pathogens that may be catching a lift on the shoes of visitors, and stringent cleaning and disinfection policies.
“We just kept it up since last year. It was just a precaution.”
Vann said the feathered residents of Bird Kingdom also do not come in contact with wild birds that can carry the disease.
Poultry farmers are being vigilant, as well.
Niagara Federation of Agriculture (NFA) president Chris Mullet Koop said the West Lincoln outbreak was too close for comfort for many farmers in the region — regardless of whether they fall within the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) 10 km “primary control zone” that surrounds the farm where the infection was reported.
Although the roughly 20,000 birds his family has at their egg farm in Jordan is outside that 10 km buffer zone, “I feel like we’re far too close, regardless,” Mullet Koop said.
“Everyone sort of considers themselves in the zone if it’s in the province.”
While the regulations to prevent the spread of infection might not apply outside the zone, he said there is still “a heightened awareness and caution” among poultry and egg farmers.
“It’s on everyone’s top of mind.”
And Mullet Koop is one of many poultry farmers implementing protocols to prevent the spread of infection, including limiting access to his farm and following recommendations from the Feather Board Command Centre and CFIA.
“We do what we can,” he said.
NFA vice-president and West Lincoln’s regional councillor Albert Witteveen said although farmers routinely take steps to keep their birds healthy, the West Lincoln outbreak has put them on “high alert on biosecurity.”
Avian influenza, also referred to as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks occur annually, usually in the spring when migratory birds — primarily waterfowl — return from the south, sometimes carrying infection back with them, said Witteveen, a former poultry farmer who still works freelance in the industry.
“This is the season when everybody’s paying attention, everybody’s monitoring the flocks — they’re watching closely through usually March, April and May,” he said.
Mullet Koop agreed.
“Everyone knows it’s going to happen, it’s just a matter of when. We are prepared for it, but obviously there’s a hope that it might just pass,” he said.
However, he said the season when H5N1 is prevalent “seems to be expanding.”
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“It seems like an expanse of six months if not more and sometimes, like last year it stretched into the early summer months, and then it starts at the end of summer. It may not be as critical at those times, but it’s already present,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said a vaccine for H5N1 remains in development, and he’s hopeful it might be available in three to five years, “but three to five years is an eternity right now … for us commercial farmers.”
“Today, I have 20,000 birds on my farm that are healthy and alive, and we are doing the best we can to keep the biosecurity protocol at its height,” he said.
Those biosecurity protocols can also help protect people from infection, which is possible but rare.
Following a recent avian influenza outbreak, Niagara Region Public Health said transmission of the virus from birds to humans typically occurs with extended, close contact with live or dead infected birds or their droppings.
When avian influenza is identified in birds, public health follows up with everyone who may have had close contact with those birds to assess their risk and advise on next steps.
Public health advises anyone who may have been in contact with potentially infected birds to self-monitor for symptoms, such as fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, or vomiting and diarrhea. If symptoms occur, see a healthcare provider and get tested for avian influenza.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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