Mississippi
New strain of bird flu wipes out Mississippi poultry farm
A new strain of a highly pathogenic bird flu known as H7N9 has surfaced at a poultry farm in Mississippi where chickens are raised for breeding.
The finding of the new strain came as researchers separately reported a potentially positive development: Exposure to human seasonal flu may confer some immunity to H5N1 bird flu.
The new strain found in Noxubee County, Miss., was confirmed March 12 and all of the roughly 46,000 birds either died or were euthanized after the infection spread, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Mississippi’s Board of Animal Health. None of the birds entered the food supply.
Authorities didn’t say how the birds were infected, although federal wildlife agents had been identifying low-pathogenic versions of the H7N9 virus for several years in wild birds. It is possible that the version found in the chickens is circulating in wild birds, but most researchers think it probably acquired its deadly attributes once it got into the Noxubee chicken operation.
If that’s the case, “my money is on a one-and-done, perhaps with some local spread,” said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Webby said most bird flu outbreaks follow that pattern: A low-pathogenic version is introduced to commercial poultry, and it becomes highly pathogenic once inside.
The introduction of H5N1—the bird flu virus that’s been infecting dairy cows, commercial poultry, pet cats, wild animals and wild birds since March 2024—into poultry and livestock populations was a notable exception to this trend: It was already circulating among wild birds and animals as a highly pathogenic virus.
John Korslund, a veterinarian and former USDA researcher, agreed with Webby and noted that the operation housed breeder broilers: chickens that are grown and maintained for breeding purposes, not for their meat.
This is significant because breeders live for months, if not years.
If a low-pathogenic virus “happens to get into a broiler meat flock, the birds don’t get sick and they go on to slaughter,” he said. But when a breeder flock picks up that virus, “the virus can replicate for weeks … this may well be what happened in Mississippi.”
However, according to USDA rules, routine and periodic testing of breeder birds for low-pathogenic avian influenza is required. In 2017, an outbreak of H7N9 occurred along the Mississippi flyway, probably starting in late February, but reported only in March. A summary report of the outbreak suggested the virus was introduced via wild birds.
As suspected in this case, it is believed it started as “low path” and only became “high path” once it got into commercial operation.
Nevertheless, experts said, if they are wrong and a highly pathogenic virus is circulating in wild birds, it’ll start popping up in other states and sites too.
“Time will tell how nasty it gets this time,” Korslund said.
The key to preventing these kinds of outbreaks—or at least getting ahead of them—is wildlife surveillance, the experts said.
Agencies such as the USDA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Wildlife Health Center, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have divisions that are tasked with sampling wild birds and other animals for infectious diseases. The information they gather is then used by agriculture and public health officials to determine where and when to bolster biosecurity, or to keep a lookout.
Without that information, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Canada: “We’re flying blind.”
In the positive news that came out this week, a team of international researchers found that ferrets exposed to a common seasonal human flu—H1N1—before being exposed to H5N1, acquire some immunity from the seasonal flu.
Ferrets that weren’t exposed to the seasonal flu before being infected with H5N1 had high levels of the virus in their respiratory tissues, as well as detectable virus in their hearts, spleen, liver and intestines.
In contrast, those that had been exposed to the seasonal flu beforehand had virus only in the respiratory tract—and at pretty low levels.
“The biggest take-home message of our data is that prior human seasonal virus infection can provide some level of protection against the lethality of bird flu,” said Seema Lakdawala, a microbiologist at Emory University in Atlanta and one of the study’s researchers.
Webby, the St. Jude researcher, said the work supports other research that has looked at the potential protectiveness of prior exposure to flu viruses.
“It is for sure playing some role in modulating H5N1 disease in humans,” he said, but was unlikely the only factor. “After all, many people have severe seasonal H1N1 infections each year despite lots of immunity to the virus from previous H1N1 exposures.”
But the finding may help explain why the virus has recently been associated with generally mild disease in people who have been infected. Seventy people in the U.S. have been infected since March 2024, and one person has died. (Four people, including the Louisiana patient who died, have been hospitalized).
Before last year, the virus was thought to have killed roughly 50% of those infected.
Rasmussen said the worry now is that if H5N1 mutates to become transmissible between people, it’ll be young children as well as the old and compromised who are likely to be most affected. Children younger than 5 are less likely to have been exposed to seasonal human influenza viruses than school-aged children and adults—potentially making them more susceptible to the harms of a virus such as H5N1.
In addition, she said, the bird flu viruses circulating in birds and livestock “as far as we know, can’t transmit easily between people. But, if there’s reassortment, then who knows? We don’t know what kind of residual population-level immunity we would have” from a virus such as that.
How seasonal flu vaccines could affect this protection isn’t clear.
“Seasonal vaccines will not provide the same diversity of immune response as natural infection and are unlikely to provide the same level of protection,” said Lakdawala, who is testing this issue in the lab.
2025 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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A Mississippi family whose 1-year-old child was killed when police fired into a moving car offered evidence on Wednesday that they say challenges the officers’ account that they were in danger when one opened fire.
A second autopsy requested by the family of Kohen Wiley showed the baby was shot from the side of the car, not the front, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said. Wiley’s mother, who is Black and was in the passenger seat, says her friend was driving away from the officers, while the officers initially said the car was heading toward them.
The June 14 shooting has outraged community members and prompted protests in the small town of Senatobia, where residents point to a string of troubling encounters with police in recent years. Crump said the child was killed after police were called to a Walmart parking lot about diapers that may have been shoplifted.
“We are here because the lack of transparency, and we’re going to try to continue to demand transparency,” Crump said. He spoke from the pulpit of Senatobia Church of Christ, surrounded by more than a dozen people, including the baby’s grandparents, some of them holding “Justice for Baby Kohen” signs.
On display were photos of Wiley’s body provided to the family-retained pathologist and a photo of the vehicle with the passenger window shattered and what an apparent bullet hole in the windshield on the passenger side.
“They (the officers) reported they witnessed two adults and this child getting into the vehicle but yet he saw fit to shoot into a moving vehicle when he knew a baby was there,” Crump said. The woman was critically wounded, authorities have said.
“They want us to believe that it was a life or death situation,” he added. “They told us that, but they have not showed us that.”
The family is demanding that police body camera and dashcam video, as well as Walmart surveillance video, be made public.
A spokesperson for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the inquiry, declined to comment Wednesday, saying in an email that the case remains an open and ongoing investigation.
In an initial account of the shooting, state investigators said: “Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver drove in the direction of the officers, almost striking one. An officer then discharged their weapon and the vehicle fled the scene.”
Kohen’s mother has said she believes her friend paid for the diapers. The killing has drawn comparisons to other instances of other Black people who lost their life in cases of accusations of petty criminal offenses, such as the murder of George Floyd.
Odds of winning the Powerball and Mega Millions are NOT in your favor
Odds of hitting the jackpot in Mega Millions or Powerball are around 1-in-292 million. Here are things that you’re more likely to land than big bucks.
The Mississippi Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 30, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mississippi Match 5 numbers from June 30 drawing
02-11-17-29-30
Check Mississippi Match 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 3 numbers from June 30 drawing
Midday: 9-2-2, FB: 6
Evening: 0-0-8, FB: 8
Check Cash 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash 4 numbers from June 30 drawing
Midday: 4-3-6-6, FB: 6
Evening: 7-6-5-5, FB: 8
Check Cash 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from June 30 drawing
Midday: 07
Evening: 02
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Story continues below gallery.
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
Winnings of $599 or less can be claimed at any authorized Mississippi Lottery retailer.
Prizes between $600 and $99,999, may be claimed at the Mississippi Lottery Headquarters or by mail. Mississippi Lottery Winner Claim form, proper identification (ID) and the original ticket must be provided for all claims of $600 or more. If mailing, send required documentation to:
Mississippi Lottery Corporation
P.O. Box 321462
Flowood, MS
39232
If your prize is $100,000 or more, the claim must be made in person at the Mississippi Lottery headquarters. Please bring identification, such as a government-issued photo ID and a Social Security card to verify your identity. Winners of large prizes may also have the option of setting up electronic funds transfer (EFT) for direct deposits into a bank account.
Mississippi Lottery Headquarters
1080 River Oaks Drive, Bldg. B-100
Flowood, MS
39232
Mississippi Lottery prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the drawing date. For detailed instructions and necessary forms, please visit the Mississippi Lottery claim page.
When are the Mississippi Lottery drawings held?
- Cash 3: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Cash 4: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
- Match 5: Daily at 9:30 p.m. CT.
- Cash Pop: Daily at 2:30 p.m. (Midday) and 9:30 p.m. (Evening).
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Mississippi editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Mississippi State Hospital now has a new director.
Following the retirement of 36-year veteran administrator James “Bo” Chastain, the behavioral health facility has announced Brandon native Amy Carruth as its director. Carruth was hired from within after having spent the last 14 years in several key roles, including deputy hospital administrator and director of quality assurance.
Throughout her tenure, she has led policy development, strategic planning, and organization-wide quality improvement initiatives, helping strengthen operations and support high-quality patient care across the hospital.
Recognized for her expertise in Joint Commission standards, Carruth has guided Mississippi State Hospital through multiple accreditation surveys while leading continuous improvement efforts across the organization. She has also helped modernize organizational workflows, implement evidence-based quality improvement practices, and strengthen accountability through data-informed decision-making, officials say.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carruth coordinated infection prevention efforts, implementing evolving safety standards, developing operational procedures and supporting the rollout of employee vaccinations. Her leadership helped position the hospital to continue delivering care while adapting to unprecedented challenges.
In addition to her administrative responsibilities, Carruth has served as the designated institutional official for the medical center’s psychiatry residency program, overseeing graduate medical education and supporting the development of future psychiatrists.
Before joining Mississippi State Hospital in 2012, Carruth served in leadership positions with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the Mississippi Public Employees’ Retirement System, and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, where she gained extensive experience in public administration, organizational leadership, and strategic planning.
“At the core of Mississippi State Hospital’s mission is the belief that every person served here deserves compassionate, high-quality care,” Carruth said. “I’m proud to be a part of this agency and our mission, and I look forward to continuing the legacy of providing hope, safety and recovery to Mississippians in need.”
Mississippi State Hospital a publicly funded behavioral health facility operated under the direction of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health. It is located on 350 acres in Rankin County near Pearl and Brandon, and is colloquially known as Whitfield.
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