Experts to speak on bird disease

Tuesday, March 11, 2003 | 9:06 a.m.

Clark County will host a call-in program at 7 p.m. on exotic Newcastle disease on cable Channel 4. The call-in number is 895-1195.

Two national experts on exotic Newcastle disease, a virus affecting domestic birds, will speak and take questions tonight about the impact the disease has had in Southern Nevada.

Dr. Reginald Johnson, a veterinary epidemiologist, and Dr. Henry Loper, a veterinary medical officer, will answer questions during a Clark County-sponsored television show on Cox cable Channel 4 between 7 and 7:30 p.m. Both experts are from the U.S. Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Inspection Service.

The disease has led to the death of hundreds of birds in a quarantine area that includes California, Arizona and Clark and Nye counties in Nevada. The disease, which first appeared in September in Los Angeles, kills more than 90 percent of birds that it infects, Johnson said Monday.

He said the disease is passed by people moving from areas with infected birds to other premises with birds, almost exclusively domesticated birds. One suspected contributor to the spread of the disease is the network of cockfighting in the Southwest, Johnson said.

Cockfighting is illegal in Nevada, but still occurs, authorities believe. Johnson said moving birds between the sites of cockfights is increasingly under scrutiny as a disease vector.

"Evidence to support that is mounting," he said. "At the very least, there are going to be some connections there."

Federal and state officials slapped a local quarantine on birds Jan. 16, after the infection was discovered in chickens near Nellis Air Force Base.

The state reported no new infections after mid-February, but Johnson cautioned that the quarantine restricting the movement of any domesticated birds is still in effect.

"It is still in effect and probably will be in effect until at least June 2003, maybe even beyond that," he said.

Violating of the quarantine could result in fines up to $600 and other civil penalties of up to $25,000.

Signs that birds are infected with exotic Newcastle disease may include coughing, sneezing, loss of appetite, a red swollen head, nasal discharge and depressed behavior. However, the surest sign of the disease is sudden death with no previous indication of illness, according to experts.

Johnson, based in Fort Collins, Colo., said the disease does not appear to pose a human health threat, although it has been linked to mild human eye infections in some cases.