[Grab and Go Activity]{.underline}

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  10 & up

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**Don't \"Borrow\" Bird Flu**

**Contributor: ** Fidelis Hegngi, Senior Staff Veterinarian with the
U.S. Department of Agriculture\'s Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service (APHIS).

**Main idea: ** Youth will see how easily viruses from poultry diseases
such as avian influenza (bird flu) can spread. Borrowing tools and
equipment without cleaning them properly could result in the spread of
infectious poultry diseases from one farm to the next.

**Objective: ** Youth will learn why properly cleaning and disinfecting
farm tools and equipment are important if they raise poultry or other
animals. Students will learn about biosecurity
practices/principles/measures and how these can prevent the spread of
poultry diseases.

**Materials:**

** Each group** of 4 to 5 needs:

  

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|                                                                       |
|                                                                       |
| >        2 cups of clean non-clumping kitty litter                    |
| >                                                                     |
| >        1 small container of glitter (the glitter for each group     |
| > should be a different color -- green for one group, gold for        |
| > another, etc).                                                      |
| >                                                                     |
| >        1 shoebox or similar sized tray or pan to hold the kitty     |
| > litter.                                                             |
| >                                                                     |
| >        Five or more small tools and/or items of clothing you might  |
| > find around the farm. These include:                                |
|                                                                       |
| -   Small shovel or trowel                                            |
|                                                                       |
| -   Small hoe                                                         |
|                                                                       |
| -   Hammer                                                            |
|                                                                       |
| -   Broom                                                             |
|                                                                       |
| -   Baseball cap                                                      |
|                                                                       |
| -   Boots or old shoes                                                |
|                                                                       |
| > **Clean-Up**                                                        |
|                                                                       |
| -   There will be glitter on students' hands and on tools, etc, after |
|     the activity. Either have access to a bathroom after the activity |
|     to clean up or bring wet wipes for in-classroom clean up.         |
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 **Motivator:**

Ever wonder how germs spread from one place to another? What happens if
you are raising poultry or birds and they get sick, could you spread the
disease to other people's birds or poultry? Could your chickens get it
from other sick birds?

**Questions:**

Ask and discuss these questions before starting the activity. 

>        Have you ever heard of avian influenza or bird flu?

       Do you know how diseases like avian influenza spread?

>        If you have chickens or other poultry do you or your family
> borrow tools or other equipment from family, friends and neighbors?
>
>        Do you wash these tools or equipment before you take them from
> friends, family or neighbors?
>
>        If you wash them, do you use bleach to disinfect them as part
> of the cleaning process?

**Activity**:

  1.      Divide youth into groups of 4 or 5.

>  2.      Provide each group with a shoebox or pan, two cups of kitty
> litter and a small container of glitter (a different color for each
> group). 

3.  Each group will represent a different farm in the community.

4.  The kitty litter will represent soil on the farm.

5.  Ask them to pour their particular container of glitter into their
    shoebox or pan of kitty litter.

6.  Ask each group to take one of the tools or article of clothing. They
    should spend a minute digging around in the kitty litter (soil) with
    the tool, gently stepping in the soil with boots, putting their
    hands in the soil and then putting on and taking off the baseball
    cap, etc.

7.  After a minute or two of doing this, tell them that one of their
    neighbors from another farm has asked to borrow one of their tools
    and that they also need to borrow a tool from one of their
    neighbors. Have the students switch tools/boots/equipment with each
    other -- without cleaning them off -- and repeat digging around in
    the kitty litter with the new tool/equipment. Have the students
    repeat this process until the tools/equipment have been to each
    "farm."

8.  Now, ask the youths to look at the tools/equipment/clothing that
    they currently have in their shoebox or pan. What color glitter do
    they see?

9.  The students will invariably see every color of glitter on the
    tools, in the soil and on their hands.

10. Ask them to imagine that each color of glitter represents a germ or
    a virus. Most of these germs and viruses do not pose a serious
    threat to humans or poultry. However, what would they think if the
    gold glitter was avian influenza and that their birds could become
    sick from being exposed to it in the soil or on their hands and
    equipment?

11. What can they do to prevent the spread of avian influenza?

> (Possible answers include)

-   Don't borrow tools from friends, family or neighbors

-   If you must borrow something, be sure to clean the item and then
    disinfect it using such as bleach and water before returning it

-   Change your boots, shoes and clothes before traveling from one farm
    to another or at least clean your boots, shoes and clothes first

-   Wash and disinfect hands thoroughly before and after handling
    poultry and birds

> 12\. Explain to students that this is part of practicing biosecurity.
> In the broad sense biosecurity is defined as "*policies and measures
> taken for protecting a nation's food supply and agricultural
> resources."* On a personal level, Biosecurity is defined as *doing
> everything possible you can to protect your birds and other animals
> from disease.*

**Learning checks: **

>        Ask the youths to think of instances where they have brought
> tools or equipment with them somewhere. Ask them what they might do
> differently now that they better understand how diseases like avian
> influenza spread.

 

**Background:** 

Avian influenza is an infectious disease, harmful mostly to birds, that
can be carried by equipment, vehicles, clothing, shoes, and people who
have come in contact with the virus. Another is exotic Newcastle
disease.

 

**Vocabulary:**

**Avian influenza (AI)**\--the bird flu\--is a virus that infects wild
birds (such as ducks, gulls, and shorebirds) and domestic poultry (such
as chickens, turkeys, ducks, quail, pheasants, partridges, and geese).
There is flu for birds just as there is for humans and, as with people,
some forms of the flu in birds are worse than others.

**Biosecurity:**  Precautions taken to minimize the risk of introducing
an infectious disease into an animal population such as poultry.
Biosecurity is the first line of defense in the prevention and control
of infectious diseases.

**Disinfecting:**  Making an object or area clean by removing,
neutralizing, or destroying bacteria or germs.

**Disinfectant:** A substance that destroys harmful microorganisms.

**Extensions:**

** **1.      Youths can learn more by visiting the Biosecurity for Birds
website at: **healthybirds.aphis.usda.gov**

**2007**

**For more information contact USDA/APHIS at
birdbiosecurity@aphis.usda.gov**