Facing 4 more H5N2 outbreaks, Iowa declares emergency
Robert Roos
CIDRAP News
May 01, 2015
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad declared a statewide emergency over H5N2 avian influenza today as the state reported probable outbreaks on four more farms, while Minnesota officials said two more farms have probably been hit by the virus.
The latest Iowa outbreaks push the state’s total to 21, at a cost of about 16 million layer chickens, in addition to many thousands of turkeys, Iowa officials said. Minnesota has now had 72 outbreaks, nearly all on turkey farms, with 3.9 million birds lost.
Another big layer farm hit
The new Iowa incidents involve turkey farms in Sac, Pocahontas, and Cherokee counties and a layer farm in Madison County, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) said. Sac County has had one previous outbreak, but the other three counties have not.
The Madison County farm has an estimated 1 million layers, while bird count information for the three turkey farms was still pending, the IDALS said.
In all four cases, initial testing indicated an H5 virus, and further testing to confirm the full subtype is being done by the US Department of Agriculture.
Meanwhile in Minnesota, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) reported presumptive positive findings on two turkey farms, one in Kandiyohi County and one in Meeker County. Flock size information was not yet available.
The Kandiyohi outbreak is the county’s 26th, while the Meeker incident is the 8th one there, the statement said. Kandiyohi is the state’s top turkey producing county.
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