States Hit by Further Presumed Bird Flu Cases

US - Presumptive new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been announced by Minnesota's state government, ending a hiatus of new cases that lasted over a week.
calendar icon 27 May 2015
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Whilst there have been no new confirmed cases since yesterday's report, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety announced six flocks that are presumed positive for the disease.

The outbreaks are awaiting confirmation by the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

The new presumed cases in Minnesota are:

  • Brown county – 1st detection in the county (46,800 commercial turkeys);
  • Renville county – 3rd and 4th detections (commercial turkeys, information on flock sizes pending);
  • Kandiyohi county – 34th, 35th and 36th detections (commercial turkeys, information on flock sizes pending).

Given this announcement, the Minnesota total of confirmed detections can be expected to rise above its current level of 84, with 6,536,360 birds affected.

There have also been new presumed HPAI outbreaks in Iowa, which were announced by the state's Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship on 26 May.

The two new presumed cases there are:

  • Adair county – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 975,000 birds;
  • Webster county – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 160,000 birds.

These two operations both experienced increased mortality and initial testing showed positive for H5 avian influenza.

These cases bring the total presumptive detections of the disease in Iowa to 66.

The confirmed total for Iowa is 56 detections, with 26,989,300 birds affected.

Nebraska has also announced a further presumptive avian influenza case recently, on a third farm in Dixon county. The affected farms in the area are very close together.

“These farms are in close proximity to each other so this finding, while unfortunate, is not unexpected,” said Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Greg Ibach.

“We continue to receive great support from our federal, state and local partners, as well as from the operator, as we work to control the spread of the virus.”

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