Bird flu has hit Alberta hard.
As of Sept. 1, five premises are infected and 57 were previously infected. In total, about 1.4 million birds were impacted.
And on Sept. 11, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed a commercial poultry operation in Warner County, Alta., with avian flu.
“Because we don’t have the answers this study will provide, we’re kind of on pins and needles every season just wondering what might happen every time the bird migration comes through,” David Hylink, chair of Alberta Chicken Producers, told the Red Deer Advocate.
In total, Dr. Careem and his colleagues want to collect samples from about 70 sites across the province, with an even split of locations that have experienced the disease and those that have not.
Industry groups like Alberta Chicken Producers, Alberta Turkey Producers and Egg Farmers of Alberta are involved too, helping to arrange testing sites and providing funding for the research.
Alberta’s Results Driven Agriculture Research is also supporting the research. Between it and the industry groups, Dr. Careem’s work is receiving $733,800.
When a deceased bird is discovered, Dr. Careem and his team will examine it for clues.
“We can determine what strain the virus is and we’ll collect dust samples that can tell if (avian flu) was circulating in the air,” he said. “Then we can take those results and compare them to other locations to see if there’s similarities in how the virus got into the barn.”
Dr. Careem wants to provide updates to the poultry industry this fall or winter, he said.