Another northwest Iowa turkey flock has bird flu – Iowa Capital Dispatch

A business flock of about 90,000 turkeys in Ida County is the seventh to be contaminated by extremely pathogenic avian influenza this month in northwest Iowa, in keeping with the Iowa Division of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

The state’s detection price of the virus at business amenities has dramatically elevated in December, with six of these seven confirmations previously week. These virus confirmations led to the culling of about 385,000 turkeys.

Whole flocks are destroyed to stop the unfold of the virus from facility to facility.

The principally seemingly supply of transmission has been wild, migrating birds, which may be contaminated and asymptomatic. The virus is commonly lethal for home birds. It poses a low well being danger to people.

There have now been a complete of 30 identified contaminated business and yard flocks in Iowa this yr, with a complete of almost 16 million birds. That’s by far the most important chook dying toll of any state this yr, regardless that different states have had a a lot increased variety of affected flocks. That’s as a result of a number of of the Iowa flocks had been huge teams of egg-laying chickens — two of which had no less than 5 million birds apiece.

In Minnesota, there have been no less than 109 contaminated flocks with a complete of about 4.2 million birds, in keeping with the U.S. Division of Agriculture. That’s almost 4 occasions the variety of contaminated Iowa flocks however about one-quarter of the affected birds. Many of the affected business Minnesota amenities had turkeys, the most important of which was a flock of about 298,000.

There was a couple of five-month lull in detections in Iowa this summer time between the northern and southern migrations of untamed birds. Different detections since October embrace:

— Dec. 11: About 50,000 business turkeys in Buena Vista County
— Dec. 11: About 50,000 business turkeys in Cherokee County
— Dec. 9: About 50,000 business turkeys in Sac County
— Dec. 6: About 105,000 business turkeys in Cherokee County
— Dec. 6: About 40,000 business turkeys in Sac County
— Dec. 2: About 41,000 business turkeys in Buena Vista County
— Nov. 7: About 1 million business egg-laying chickens in Wright County
— Nov. 7: About 20 blended yard birds in Louisa County
— Oct. 31: About 1.1 million business egg-laying chickens in Wright County
— Oct. 20: About 50 blended yard birds in Dallas County