Short Takes – 1-28-25 – Bird Flu Edition

Egg prices may increase up to 20% as top farm tests positive for bird flu: USDA. ABCNews.go.com article. Pull quote: “Rose Acres Farms, which claims to be the second-largest egg producer in the United States, released a statement on Tuesday saying that it had detected cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) at Cort Acre Egg Farm in Seymour, Indiana.”

Egg prices near $9 a dozen in California, and that won’t change anytime soon. OCRegister.com article. Pull quote: “Anytime the virus is found on a poultry farm, the entire flock is slaughtered to help limit the virus’ spread. And with massive egg farms routinely housing more than 1 million chickens, just a few infections can cause a supply crunch.”

Tests identify H5N9 avian flu at California duck farm. CIDRAP.UNM.edu article. Pull quote: “Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said on X today that the H5N9 detection suggests reassortment of circulating H5N1 viruses with avian flu virus that contains the N9 neuraminidase (NA). She added that replication in coinfected hosts can produce unpredictable new reassortant viruses.”

Will bird flu spark a human pandemic? Scientists say the risk is rising. Nature.com article. Pull quote: “There are two main variants of H5N1 that researchers are monitoring: one, called B3.13, is spreading mainly in cows; the other, called D1.1, is found mostly in wild and domesticated birds, including chickens raised for poultry.”

OMB Approves APHIS IFR on HPAI Compensation

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs announced that it had approved an interim final rule from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on “Revise Conditions for Payment of Indemnity and Compensation for HPAI [Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza]”. The IFR was sent to OIRA on October 23^rd, 2024.

According to the Fall 2024 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking:

“The current HPAI indemnity regulations require producers above de minimis thresholds to have a biosecurity plan as a condition for indemnification. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) intends this interim rule to require a successful biosecurity audit for HPAI-infected premises intending to restock and for buffer zone (uninfected) premises that wish to request that poultry be moved onto the premises. Other changes are also being considered.”

Review - APHIS Publishes Dairy HPAI Testing 60-day ICR Renewal Notice

Today, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) published a 60-day information collection request renewal notice in the Federal Register (89 FR 70162-70163) for “Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza; Testing, Surveillance, and Reporting of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Livestock; Dairy Herd Certification”. The current version of the ICR was approved on an emergency basis on July 23^rd, 2024. There is no change in the burden estimate for this extension.

Public Comments

APHIS is soliciting public comments on this ICR notice. Comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (www.Regulations.gov; Docket # APHIS-2024-0043) Comments should be submitted by October 28^th, 2024.

 

For more details about this ICR notice, including changes that could have been made, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/aphis-publishes-dairy-hpai-testing - subscription required.