The viral disease that killed thousands of ducklings of the Muscovy breed earlier this year is still to be determined despite numerous tests carried out on samples sent to the Cornell University Duck Research Laboratory in United States.
Chairman of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) Board Peter de Groot told this newspaper that to date they have not been able to get a definitive reading from the samples.
Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the GLDA Dr Dwight Waldron had said the testing process is lengthy, particularly since the illness that affected the ducklings remains a mystery.
“They have to determine the cause of the illness. They have nothing to work with, so they have to work from scratch. They have to go through all the tests to determine what is the illness affecting the ducklings,” he explained.
While the GLDA suspects farms were affected by the Duck Viral Hepatitis (DVH) based on symptoms displayed, it is not yet confirmed. The virus is a highly fatal, contagious disease of young ducklings between 1 and 28 days old.
The GLDA on May 18th had issued a notice advising that its surveillance team had seen an increased mortality rate among the ducklings being hatched at its hatchery. The agency said that it had also been told by some farmers that a “similar occurrence was taking place on a number of farms throughout the various regions.”
de Groot said they have since begun to use the hatchery to test a fresh batch of eggs. He noted that should the results be favourable, they will reopen the hatchery to the public. He noted that this testing phase would last at least seven weeks.
GLDA had stated that it is suspected that six duck farms in regions Three, Four and Six were contaminated by the virus. Those farms were quarantined.
In June, the livestock authority had imported 1400 Muscovy ducklings from the United States for breeding.
Hatchlings from the imported ducks would be sold to local farmers, GLDA Chief Executive Officer Nigel Cumberbatch had said in a statement.
“These ducklings were imported from the USA and they were declared free of any infectious or contagious disease such as Duck Virus Hepatitis, Duck Virus Enteritis, Cholera, Salmonella and other such diseases by the United States Department of Agriculture. The hatchlings from this importation would be sold to the farming community for rearing for meat production,” Cumberbatch noted in the statement issued in June.
His statement added that the Muscovy ducks are used primarily for meat production as the meat contains less fat than the other breeds of ducks. It further noted that within 12 weeks, male Muscovy ducks can attain as much as 5.5 kg once proper animal husbandry is practised.
The GLDA had said that should the results from the Cornell University laboratory confirm its suspicions of DVH, it suspects that the disease was introduced into Guyana by “perhaps the illegal importation of hatching eggs or ducklings.”
