dr. hartmann? >> mr. chair and members of the committee, i am bill heart man and the executive director of the board of health and state veterinarian of minnesota. i want to thank you for with the opportunity to testify in front of this group on the outbreak of high path avian influenza we had in minnesota. i want to thank congressman peterson for his efforts in minnesota and support during this event. i wanted to acknowledge john clifford and the usda for what they have done in minnesota. they have -- our success depended on them being here and we appreciate the health we received from them. at one point, there were 140 usda employees working on high path ai in minnesota. it is an understatement to say that high path ia in minnesota has been devastating and extremely difficult to all involved. a university of minnesota study estimated the losses to the economy of minnesota at $650 million. that was a few weeks ago. the hardest part of this disease has been to see the motional impact this has had on growe

dr. bill hartmann board of animal health and st. paul. dr.yne, wheel will begin when you are ready. -- we will begin when you are ready. dr. swayne: thank you i am dr. david swayne, the laboratory director of the southeast poultry research directory. the agriculture of research services is committed to eradicating the high virus to provide cutting-edge research and diagnostics molecular epidemiology, pathology, and fax vaccinology. we focused our high path research program to what is needed. within weeks, a test was developed to test this unique virus which allowed quick differentiation from our north american virus is. -- viruses. this is the core test used in diagnostic efforts to identify infected flocks. we conducted studies to understand how the early virus infected birds. in chickens and turkeys high exposure doses were needed, and vertebrate contact was very inefficient. -- in bird to bird contact was very inefficient. in mallards and wild ducks, they became infected with lower doses of the virus and had more efficient contact transmis

dr. hartmann, you haven't been on the front line yet, dr. mercks but hopefully you won't be, but as i said, things haven't been perfect, but you have responded when we've had concerns and we appreciate it and also thank the secretary and your people who are -- i talked to a number of your folks who were at the willmer emergency center and they were from maine and oklahoma and all over the place and they were away from their families and working seven days a week and so it's a tremendous effort and we appreciate it and look forward to working with all of you to get through this fall. hopefully won't have a similar situation, but if it does grow up hopefully we'll have a much better response ready to go. thank you all very much for what you've done. i yield back. >> thank you, mr. peterson. since i'm i guess the last one left and the chairman of the subcommittee, i suppose i have the right to ask one more question if my staff will allow me. otherwise i might be fired perhaps. sitting here thinking about the testimony and the questions back and

dr. hartmann said, there is a lot of waterfowl. you certainly need that criteria. that is the idea, to get them to accept that and not shut off the entire u.s. mr. peterson: is that the discussion going on with other countries? mr. clifford: that is the discussion. i am visiting five countries. talking to them about that. also visiting countries like china, just to get our markets reopened. we are also going to be going to other countries in europe. as well as the americas. mr. peterson: thank you. i want to thank you all. as i said, things have not been perfect. but do you have had concerns. we appreciate it. i also think the secretary and your people. i talked to a number of your folks at the emergency center from maine oklahoma all over the place. they were away from their families and working seven days a week. it is a tremendous effort. we appreciate it. look forward to working with all of you to get through this fall. hopefully we will not have a similar situation. if it does a rear up, hopefully we will have a similar response ready to go. i yield back. >> i

dr. bill hartmann board of animal health st. paul minnesota.begin your ready. >> chairman trina levin, ranking member costa, i am.or david swayne, introduced at the southeast poultry laboratory in athens, georgia. we are part of the u.s. national poultry research center. agricultural research service is committed to eradicating the virus epicenter of the current north american outbreak to provide cutting-edge research and ask epidemiology, pathology. in response to the first detections of hp a.i. and the u.s. refocused its high path research program to the most imminent research needs. within weeks the rapid molecular test was developed to detect the virus which allowed quick differentiation from north american virus. the test was transferred to the laboratories as the cortes used in diagnostic effort to rapidly identify infected locks. we conduct studies to understand how the early high path virus cause disease in birds and chickens and turkeys the viruses took high exposure to produce infection and vertebra contact transmission is very ineffi