POULTRY FARMERS URGED TO GUARD AGAINST AVIAN FLU

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 2, 1993                   TAG: 9302020274
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG                                LENGTH: Short
POULTRY FARMERS URGED TO GUARD AGAINST AVIAN FLU
The Virginia Poultry Federation urged farmers Monday to take steps to prevent the spread of avian flu, a contagious respiratory disease detected last month in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York.
"The disease is a very real threat and it can put you out of business in a hurry," said Richard Moyers, president of the federation.
Federal officials last week banned live poultry auctions nationwide to try to curb the spread of the disease, which does not affect humans. The auctions are used by private growers who raise chickens for a hobby or food.
The disease, which can be transported by fecal matter from farm to farm on footwear, machinery and equipment, had not been detected in any commercial flocks.
Virginia's $1.5 billion poultry industry has 1,800 producers, most of whom sell to one of the four main processors in the state - W.L.R. Foods, Rocco, Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms.
The state ranks sixth in annual turkey production with 19 million birds and 10th in chicken production with 218 million broilers.
An outbreak of avian flu in 1983 and 1984 forced the state to destroy 1.5 million chickens and turkeys, which cost the Virginia poultry industry millions of dollars.
Several farms were quarantined and thousands of chickens were destroyed in 1989 when avian flu was detected on a few Shenandoah Valley farms. Moyers said increased sanitary precautions started after the 1983-84 outbreak helped keep the disease from spreading then.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB