ACROSS ILLINOIS — Bird flu has been reported in birds and waterfowl at quite a few websites throughout the state, together with in Woodstock, officers mentioned this previous week.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is monitoring the “massive occasion of waterfowl dying” and is urging the general public to take the suitable steps if they arrive upon a lifeless duck or goose, or a number of lifeless waterfowl.
“While avian influenza typically poses a low danger to the inhabitants, it’s important to take the mandatory steps to keep away from publicity, and to hunt therapy rapidly in case you are uncovered,” mentioned IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “We encourage all Illinoisans to comply with the recommendation of the consultants at IDNR with a view to keep away from contact with sick birds, and to take any potential publicity significantly. These common sense steps can assist cut back the chance of spreading this sickness.”
If you discover it the lifeless birds on personal property, don’t contact it straight together with your palms however as a substitute, put on disposable gloves and a face masks whereas inserting the hen in a rubbish bag. Do not expel the air from the bag and put it right into a rubbish can, in accordance with United States Department of Agriculture officers.
Wash any clothes that comes into contact with the birds or their feces and disinfect the soles of footwear that come into contact with waterfowl feces, in accordance with the USDA.
Anyone who comes upon 5 or extra deceased birds at one location ought to contact the IDNR and report it by going online. And for any lifeless geese and geese situated in Woodstock discovered on metropolis property, metropolis officers say you’ll be able to contact the Woodstock Public Works Department at 815-338-6118 or pwdept@woodstockil.gov to have the waterfowl take away.
IDNR officers say different animals, canine and pets are prone to an infection and needs to be avoided the carcasses of birds that will have died from hen flu.
In addition, IDPH recommends:
- Not sending dying or lifeless birds to veterinarians, wildlife refuges, and so forth., for testing. Instead, notify your local health department or alert IDNR wildlife biologists in instances of 5 or extra deceased birds present in one location
- Requesting antiviral medicines after exposures to stop sickness
- Contacting your native well being division and searching for medical consideration in case you develop flu-like signs, together with fever, cough, sore throat, problem respiratory, physique aches, complications, eye redness, vomiting or diarrhea, after publicity to sick or lifeless birds, please notify the native well being division instantly
- Not delaying searching for medical consideration since therapy should be began inside two days of sickness for it to be simplest.
The IDNR can also be recommending wildlife rehabilitation facilities forgo accepting waterfowl or different aquatic birds at the moment because of the elevated danger of an infection. According to the IDNR, “warning also needs to be taken when accepting raptors, scavengers, and different birds displaying indicators of sickness attributable to danger of publicity to HPAI.”
Further steerage for wildlife rehabilitators relating to HPAI could be discovered online.
As for waterfowl hunters, the DNR recommends precautions be taken when cooking the sport meat. The inner temperature of the meat ought to attain 165 levels, and you need to keep away from dealing with sick or lifeless waterfowl discovered within the area.
Further steerage for hunters could be discovered online.
In addition to detections in wild birds, Illinois and different states throughout the United States have seen detections in poultry.
“The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) encourages poultry house owners to concentrate on the danger, improve biosecurity measure and stop contact with wild birds,” mentioned Dr. Mark Ernst, IDOA state veterinarian. “In addition, we encourage poultry house owners to report unusually massive mortalities of their flocks and to concentrate on IDPH’s suggestions relating to publicity to sick birds.”
