With four additional sites, Minnesota passes 3 million birds affected by H5N1 avian influenza

WILLMAR, Minnesota — 4 new websites have been added to the Board of Animal Well being’s listing of confirmed instances of H5N1 extremely pathogenic avian influenza, bringing the state’s complete to 79 websites in 28 counties.

Two new confirmations — a yard flock of 24 birds in Clay County and a industrial flock of 4,744 turkey breeder toms in Kandiyohi County — have been introduced Thursday, Could 19, in an replace from the state Board of Animal Well being. The positioning in Clay County is the primary from that county; the Kandiyohi County website marks the primary time a flock of breeder turkey toms has been affected.

Two further websites — a yard flock of 46 birds in Polk County and a 57,000-bird industrial turkey meat operation in Dakota County — have been introduced Monday, marking the primary websites in each affected counties.

The Board of Animal Well being tally as of Tuesday reveals 3,008,799 affected birds. Contaminated flocks are depopulated.

The

U.S. Division of Agriculture

defines depopulation as “when massive numbers of animals have to be destroyed in response to an animal well being emergency.”

The 2 most important strategies are water-based foam for floor-raised birds and carbon dioxide gasoline for caged birds. USDA says they’re essentially the most humane and efficient choices out there in an emergency scenario involving mass numbers of birds.

The overwhelming majority of infections in Minnesota have been in industrial meat turkey operations. Different manufacturing varieties with confirmed diagnoses, in line with the Board of Animal Well being, have been 4 industrial turkey breeder hen flocks, three positioned in Kandiyohi County and one in Stearns County; two industrial hen operations in Morrison County — one broiler flock and one egg layer flock; and 18 yard producers.

The board’s net web page dedicated to avian flu response within the state —

bah.state.mn.us/hpai

—

is up to date at midday every weekday with the knowledge that’s identified about an infection websites. Information from earlier days additionally could also be up to date by high quality management workers if extra correct info is gathered later.

The primary Minnesota instances of the illness — which is deadly to home poultry — have been confirmed March 25.

A complete of 28 counties within the state have been impacted up to now. The opposite affected counties are Anoka, Becker, Benton, Massive Stone, Blue Earth, Carver, Chisago, Crow Wing, Dodge, Grant, Lac qui Parle, LeSueur, Lyon, Meeker, Morrison, Mower, Otter Tail, Renville, Rice, Stearns, Swift, Todd, Waseca and Yellow Medication.