By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Highly pathogenic avian influenza, sometimes called avian flu, is likely to reemerge this fall as wild birds take to the skies on their migratory flight paths.

That’s according to experts at last week’s hearing at the House Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture. This year’s avian flu outbreak has been called one of the worst animal disease outbreaks in the country’s history.

“We know there’s going to be an upcoming fall fly season,” said Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), ranking member of the subcommittee. He noted for a combination of reasons, California was able to get control of the avian flu outbreak and was relatively unscathed by the disease. “We got lucky,” he added.

That was unlike the situation elsewhere, in which 48 million chickens and turkeys had to be depopulated and millions of dollars had to be spent to aid in response efforts.

In his opening remarks, subcommittee Chair David Rouzer (R-N.C.) said as “most observers know, the heat of the summer is responsible for the halt in disease transmission, but as fall approaches and temperatures drop we need to be prepared for more cases, possibly covering a larger geographic area.”

According to a press release from the subcommittee, so far this year avian flu has affected 220 farms in 21 states, hitting Minnesota and Iowa especially hard. Minnesota raises the most turkeys of any state, and Iowa is the largest egg producer.

Rouzer said the purpose of the hearing wasn’t to second-guess anyone, find fault or do any “Monday-morning quarterbacking,” but to focus on how things might be improved so future disease outbreaks can be better managed. He was especially interested in finding out how a vaccine can be used without trade being disrupted.

In his remarks, House Ag Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) said his district was probably ground zero of the avian flu outbreak. “It’s hard to find perfection in the middle of a crisis,” Peterson said, but added some areas needed improvement.

For one, he said the indemnification process needs simplifying. He said he keeps hearing from people about the amount of paperwork they have to fill out, noting one grower told him he had to complete 77 pages. He said another problem is case managers. One grower he’d met with the previous week told him he was on his seventh case manager.

“Having a workable vaccine is something that’s very much on the agenda of my growers,” Peterson said. “It’s something that they want to have in their toolbox.”

He also wants to look at ways to speed up the depopulation effort, especially on the larger farms.

One of the hearing witnesses, Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory Director David Swayne, said only China, Vietnam, Egypt and Indonesia had tried using a vaccine for avian flu. Prolonged use of the vaccine in those countries has tended to lead to vaccine failure and resistance, he noted.

Swayne said possible vaccines are being tested now, but use of vaccines would likely lead to export restrictions. He described exports as a crucial part of the U.S. poultry industry.

In his testimony, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Deputy Director John Clifford said if U.S. farmers began to vaccinate their poultry for avian flu, then the target countries would halt the exports in order to do a risk assessment, but “that can take months.” He said he is planning to travel to countries such as Japan in order to try to persuade them not to cut off exports in that event.

Clifford noted the United States has some similar policies regarding the importation of eggs and live chicks.

Vaccines for avian flu should be used selectively, he added, saying, “We need to get away from the culture” of having to resort to the prolonged use of vaccines.