How Might Bird Flu Reach the U.S.?
Still, no country is immune to the illegal bird trade, not even the U.S., experts warn. “It is a possible risk in the U.S.,” said Brett Sandercock, an avian ecologist at Kansas State University in Manhattan. “There have been outbreaks of Exotic Newcastle disease carried by poultry, and it’s thought that those birds came [illegally] from Mexico.” The 2002-03 California outbreak of Exotic Newcastle disease a fatal and highly contagious viral disease in birds killed more than 3 million birds and cost poultry producers upwards of 150 million U.S. dollars. Some birds are smuggled into the U.S. for illegal cockfighting, while others supply specialty markets. Recently officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) uncovered shipments of frozen, boneless Thai chicken feet in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Thousands of pounds of the illegal chicken feet had been imported since 2004, labeled as jellyfish in frozen containers holding various o
