Details about the latest round of bird flu

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – In just a few days, a bird flu virus has led to the deaths of more than 400,000 turkeys and chickens on 10 farms In a southwest In county that’s the state’s largest turkey producer. Water is usually used to drown the birds; but with wind chills in the single digits, it has been freezing.

The IBAH said yesterday that 155,000 egg-laying chickens at a farm that tested negative for the virus are being destroyed as a precaution, because they are considered a “dangerous contact” to an infected farm.

The strain confirmed this morning is different from the one that caused the outbreak previous year; however, the Centers for Disease Control consider the risk of illness to humans to be very low.

There have been no reported human infections so far. Officials also are looking at whether workers traveling between farms, wind or other methods may have spread the H7N8 strain.

Mittal says it’s important that farmers be proactive in testing their birds, as it could help stop the spread from farm to farm.

Although many questions remain about the newly detected strain, tests show that Indiana’s H7N8 strain is a North American lineage virus, according to a Jan 15 report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

Past animal viruses usually spread in spring, and it’s unclear why the H7N8 strain has taken hold in January.

In Indiana, the USDA quickly deployed personnel and equipment to assist the state with culling birds and testing nearby flocks, said Bret Marsh, Indiana’s state veterinarian.

US negotiators have worked with trading partners in the past year to focus restrictions on infected counties or states, instead of blocking shipments from the entire country, said Toby Moore, spokesman for the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council.