In this week’s case, 15,000 hens at a Tyson Foods Inc. contract supplier were culled after routine testing found the chickens had antibodies for H7N3, a low pathogenic strain of the virus. Both the company and government officials have taken action to depopulate and bury the chickens.
This is the first incident since July 2007 when another low pathogenic strain was found in about 54,000 turkeys in Virginia. All of those involved have said there is no risk to humans. The pathogenicity of a strain is determined by the severity of the illness caused.