Dr. Marie Culhane is Professor at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine who specializes in Influenza and emergency disease preparedness and management. The poultry industry has battled outbreaks of High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in recent years and as the old saying goes, “Your friends challenges are your cheapest learning opportunities”. We go in depth with Dr. Culhane on Influenza – what makes this a “shared disease” between humans, birds and pigs, what are the common control strategies employed across species and how can vaccine platforms help manage Influenza disease. We specifically focus on HPAI outbreaks and their analogies with reportable diseases in the swine industry. Poultry producers have had major HPAI outbreaks in 2015 and again now in 2022 – how have their biosecurity programs and diagnostic tools evolved over that period? How do they effectively implement control zones and permit requirements prior to movement? Ultimately, what have they done to improve the timeline from diagnosis to depopulation from 7 days to 36 hours from 2015 to 2022? Marie shares lessons learned about smallholder poultry operation management that correlates to similar smallholder swine operations as well as perspective about wild bird management akin to our challenges with feral swine management.
