By Linda Breazeale
MSU Ag Communications
PEARL, Miss. -- The Mississippi Board of Animal Health will not be
alone in the battle to protect the state’s poultry industry from bird
flu this winter.
“Now is the time to make sure our response plans are in place to
minimize bird losses and economic damage when migratory birds return
from infected nesting grounds,” said Dr. Jim Watson, state veterinarian
with the Mississippi Board of Animal Health.
Watson recently invited university poultry experts, agriculture
officials and representatives of Mississippi poultry companies to a
meeting at the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary
Medicine Poultry Diagnostic Laboratory in Pearl to address concerns.
“Of the 21 states with highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks
from last December through June, some of them handled their responses
without external forces coming in from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture,” Watson said. “If Mississippi has an outbreak, we must be
prepared to handle the response ourselves because USDA may be deployed
to other states experiencing outbreaks.” read more....
