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Bird Flu Outbreak In Iowa

Bird Flu Outbreak

According to a report in the Iowa Farmer Today, officials in Iowa have confirmed the presence of the avian influenza and the news has both state and federal officials scrambling to stop the spread of the deadly disease.

After a case of the disease was first found on a turkey farm in Buena Vista County last week, state officials confirmed another diagnosis at a 3.8-million-hen egg-laying operation in Osceola County.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture responded to another case on April 23 in a commercial turkey flock in Sac County, within the 10 kilometer monitoring zone surrounding the initial case in Buena Vista County, and five other probable outbreaks were announced as of April 28 in Osceola, O’Brien and Sioux counties.

Randy Olson, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Association said, “It’s obviously very unfortunate for the family farms that are dealing with this situation.”

John Clifford, a veterinarian and director of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), believes the virus was transported by migratory birds flying along the Mississippi River flyway, as he said that “we need to do a better job of protecting the poultry industry.”

H5N8 was the original culprit in the Euro/Asian area, and this strain, H5N2, is different from that strain (…) We believe it made its way here through waterfowl (…) Not every duck is carrying the virus, but we need to do a better job of protecting the poultry industry.

NBC reports that a facility located in Kossuth County, Iowa, houses an estimated 19,000 birds and this is also thought to be the first time the avian influenza virus has affected a broiler breeding farm. Such breeding farms are traditionally known for having extremely tight biosecurity systems.

Inother recent outbreak news here at Immortal News, a recent Blue Bell listeria outbreak led to the death of 3 and hospitalization of 8 people.

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