Avian flu resurfaces in Missouri, hits more Iowa farms
Robert Roos
CIDRAP News
May 06, 2015
The H5N2 avian flu virus has reappeared in Missouri after an absence of more than a month, and Iowa reported six more poultry outbreaks today, but hard-hit Minnesota was spared any new outbreaks for the first time since mid-April.
Backyard flock hit
In Missouri the virus struck a backyard poultry flock in Lewis County, near the state’s northeastern corner, the Associated Press (AP) reported today, citing the Missouri Department of Agriculture. It said 12 birds were infected, and another 130 were destroyed to prevent any further spread.
Missouri had H5N2 outbreaks on two turkey farms and in two wild lesser snow geese in early March. The turkey farms are in Moniteau County in the central part of the state and Jasper County near the southwestern corner. The snow geese samples were collected in St. Charles County, near St. Louis.
In addition, the virus was confirmed in a captive falcon in St. Louis County in late March, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Six outbreaks in two Iowa counties
In Iowa, H5 avian flu viruses hit five more farms in the northwestern county of Sioux, while neighboring O’Brien County reported its third confirmed H5N2 outbreak, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) announced late today. The USDA is doing confirmatory testing on samples from the Sioux County farms.
The new H5 detections in Sioux County raise the county’s total to nine. They involve:
A pullet farm with an estimated 100,000 birds
A commercial egg farm with 100,000 birds
Two commercial egg farms for which estimates of flock size are still pending
A pullet farm for which an estimate of flock size is still awaited
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