South Dakota State University researchers are working to develop a vaccine for a new strain of a highly contagious disease that’s hitting the U.S. poultry industry. Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV). It is an upper respiratory tract viral infection that affects all types of poultry but is most harmful to turkeys.
The virus is divided into four subgroups, including A, B, C, or D. The U.S. had previously experienced outbreaks in subgroup C. Last January, an SDSU research team identified the first known instance of aMPV subgroup B after testing a sample from an outbreak in a North Carolina turkey flock. The news of a subgroup B outbreak was a shock to America’s $67 billion poultry industry.
Four months after identifying the virus, its spread to all of the major poultry-producing regions in the U.S. Reports from Minnesota, the country’s largest turkey producer, include egg shortages and thousands of dead birds.
(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)