Highly pathogenic and lethal avian influenza virus is now spreading across the U.S. and has now been discovered in both commercial poultry flocks and backyard flocks in 12 states in the U.S. including Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, Newsweek reported.
A large flock of chickens infected with the deadly and contagious avian flu in Iowa and Wisconsin have been killed to contain the disease.
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced on Friday that deadly avian influenza was detected in a commercial flock of laying hens in southwest Iowa’s Taylor County.
This is the third outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu reported in the state of Iowa in less than a month. Gov. Kim Reynold has issued a disaster proclamation for Taylor County in response to a confirmed positive case of bird flu, KCCI Des Moines reported.
Des Moines Register reported:
The Iowa Department of Agriculture said Friday it has confirmed an outbreak of avian influenza in a commercial egg-laying operation in Taylor County, a southwestern county located on the Missouri border.
The state said nearly 920,000 laying hens would be destroyed to prevent the spread of the disease that’s highly contagious to other birds.
Iowa has experienced two other outbreaks of the virus as it also spreads in other states across the U.S. Officials confirmed the first outbreak March 1, when a backyard flock of 42 chickens and ducks tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza; and on Sunday, when 50,000 turkeys in a commercial facility in Buena Vista County tested positive for the virus.
State and federal agencies said none of the birds nor any poultry products from flocks where avian influenza is detected will reach U.S. food supplies. No human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been detected in the United States.
In Jefferson County, Wisconsin, a large flock of chickens will be destroyed to prevent the spread of bird flu, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said Monday.
Patch reported:
A confirmed case of highly pathogenic avian influenza was discovered in the flock after tests were conducted at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, officials said.
The culling of the flock will affect 2.75 million chickens, bringing the total number of chickens killed because of the bird flu in the United States since February to 6.7 million, according to Reuters.
It’s the first confirmed case of the bird flu in Wisconsin since 2015, state officials said, and the outbreak follows similar outbreaks in Kansas and Illinois, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The prices of eggs in the US will increase as bird flu spreads across the country.