The Canadian Food Inspection Agency
has lifted the general quarantine covering southern British Columbia because
there have been no recent outbreaks of H5N2 influenza in poultry flocks.
Specific quarantines remain in
place, especially around three properties at Aldergrove and Chilliwack that
have not yet passed the 21-day post-disinfection quarantine period.
The quarantines began in December
when five commercial poultry farms were hit by the virus, probably arriving in
the lower Fraser Valley with migrating ducks and geese.
Eventually 11 commercial poultry
operations and one backyard flock were infected.
The last case was Feb. 2, and was a
different strain – H5N1 - - and
was in a backyard flock.
Canada has yet to clear trading
bans imposed by a number of nations.
Now it’s the United States that is
battling the H5N2 virus which has spread from Minnesota to Missouri and
Arkansas – the Mississippi River flyway for ducks and geese – hitting
commercial turkey flocks hard. Forty nations, including Canada, have banned
U.S. poultry.
