Avian influenza - equipment care

[Nick Ellis]

Question re. rope, equipment and clothing biosecurity following tree climb at a client site with potential avian flu.

 

The .GOV site refers to spread as follows: 

Quote

Avian influenza spreads from bird to bird by direct contact or through contaminated body fluids and faeces. It can also be spread by contaminated feed and water or by dirty vehicles, clothing and footwear.

 

I'm considering at present, application of risk management measures to minimise risk of spreading between sites. i.e. selecting anchor points which appear free of guano and brushing down equipment on completion of climb, and washing clothes and footwear using brushes and washing machine as usual. Does anyone have other ideas or ideally, official advice? I'd imagine that the risk of spreading is pretty small given the relatively small amount of climbing us ecologists do. 

[Stere]

Its all over UK in wild bird pops atm 1000's dying etc in larger numbers than  in recent yrs.

 

Im not sure what will happen in future with commercial and domestic with regards to regs & free range birds.  Kept my domestic hens inside for months when advised to but no one else local seemed to bother.

 

Think what you said is sensible.

[Dan Maynard]

You can wash the ropes too, I don't use the washing machine for this but lots of people do. Maybe put it all in a pile on the lawn and hose down would be good enough?

 

I guess hard to quantify the risk and thus know what is appropriate level of decontamination. How long do any pathogens survive in the faeces?

[GarethM]

I would assume washing things down would be the sensible solution, you can hardly boil wash everything. Even standard farming practices such as boot washing only goes so far!.

 

However, I would say any risk would be extremely minimal, unless you were visiting another avian site and even then how far down the new gear route can you justify for each survey ?.

 

I'm sure the old "Practicable" phrase is the important factor, you used the term guano so presumably it's pigeon as apposed to a poultry or geese farm.

Edited July 9, 2022 by GarethM