Chile confirms swine flu in turkeys

By Federico Quilodran

Associated Press

POSTED: 12:54 p.m. EDT, Aug 21, 2009

SANTIAGO, CHILE: Chile said today that tests show swine flu has jumped to birds, opening a new chapter in the global epidemic.

A top United Nations animal health expert said the infected turkeys have suffered only mild effects, easing concern about a potentially dangerous development. Chile's turkey meat remains safe to eat, the expert said.

Chile's health ministry said it ordered a quarantine today for two turkey farms outside the port city of Valparaiso after genetic tests confirmed sick birds were afflicted with the same virus that has caused a pandemic among humans.

So far, the virus — a mixture of human, pig and bird genes — has proven to be very contagious but no more deadly than common seasonal flu. However, virus experts fear a more dangerous and easily transmitted strain could emerge if it combines again with avian flu, which is far more deadly but tougher to pass along.

The farms' owner, Sopraval SA, alerted the agriculture ministry after egg production dropped at the farms this month. After initial tests on four samples, further genetic testing confirmed a match with the subtype A/H1N1 2009, the agriculture and health ministries announced.

''What the turkeys have is the human virus — there is no mutation at all,'' Deputy Health Minister Jeannette Vega told Chile's Radio Cooperativa today.

The Health Ministry said it ordered a complete quarantine today and alerted the U.N.'s World Health Organization. The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, meanwhile was working closely with Chilean government scientists, said Dr. Juan Lubroth, the head of infectious diseases for FAO in Rome.

Chile is sending some samples outside the country for more genetic sequencing to confirm that it matches the pandemic strain, Lubroth said. ''As a scientist, I want to touch, smell, feel, taste it'' before agreeing that it's a match, he said.

There are some encouraging signs that this particular outbreak remains mild. Egg production and water consumption among the birds dropped — prompting the company to take action — but the birds aren't terribly sick, let alone dying in large numbers, Lubroth said.

''My understanding is that with the ones that were sick, it was a very mild disease,'' Lubroth said. ''It's significant in that we don't need to recommend any drastic measures, as far as culling the population of turkeys. Let them go through their illness and recover — 7 to 10 days — and if they are sound and healthy, they could enter the food chain.''

Sopraval veterinarian Andrea Campos said that won't happen because the outbreak has been limited to birds raised to lay eggs, not those being fattened for meat.

''In all of the birds raised to be fattened to produce meat, we have not found any illness. This is an illness entirely limited within a reproductive group,'' Campos said.

Lubroth praised the company and the Chilean ministries for the actions they've taken.

''If it were highly virulent then we would recommend stronger measures,'' Lubroth added.

Chile, meanwhile, is acting to contain the outbreak by limiting the turkeys' contact with people and wildlife, Lubroth said. But given the mildness of this particular outbreak, he said ''I don't see that there is going to be a large risk from what we know today of this type of transmission occurring.''

The virus has infected at least 12,000 people in Chile and is responsible for 128 confirmed deaths.

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