USDA closely monitoring bird flu in Indonesia

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The spread of bird flu believed to have occurred among humans in Indonesia will not trigger any change in the U.S. government’s plan for protecting domestic poultry, the Agriculture Department said on Wednesday.

The USDA said the government was monitoring the situation in Indonesia, where the World Health Organization reported that limited human-to-human transmission of bird flu might have occurred in a family. WHO said scientific evidence has shown the virus has not mutated to one that can spread easily among people.

“Right now it is just monitoring the situation” with the Department of Health and Human Services and the State Department, said Ed Curlett, a spokesman with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

"At this point we don’t have enough information to say one way or another if something differently is happening in Indonesia,” he added.

The latest bird flu strain is known to have killed 124 people in 10 nations and forced the destruction of more than 200 million birds.

So far, the virus has remained largely in birds as it spread through Asia, Europe and parts of Africa. It has not been detected in the United States, although government officials have said it’s only a matter of time before the virus is found.

Richard Raymond, USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety, told reporters on Wednesday it was unlikely bird flu would ever be found in U.S. poultry.

The United States has inspectors watching live birds for disease in every plant that slaughters poultry, he said, adding that officials also are monitoring shipments for morbidity or increased mortality.

“We have lots of filters that would pick up any signs of the disease,” said Raymond. “I doubt we will ever see it in the food supply, but I cannot with 100 percent certainty guarantee that.”

USDA said cooking chicken to 165 degrees will kill the bird flu virus.

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