Agricultural News
Avian Influenza Outbreak Confined to One County in Southern Indiana- 400,000 Turkeys and Layers Affected
Tue, 19 Jan 2016 07:29:12 CST
The state of Indiana's largest poultry producing county continues to be ground zero of the largest outbreak of Avian Influenza- with a total of 10 locations in the process of being depopulated or depopulation is complete.
The number of birds euthanized (or to be euthanized) as of Monday morning was just over 240,000 turkeys- the current number Tuesday morning has grown to 401,163 with a commercial layer operation now inside the kill zone.
According to the Indiana State Board of Animal Health website, the Dubois County location number 5 that showed a turkey population of 22,225 as infected and depopulated now has a related commercial layer operation associated with it. Indiana is calling that location 5.2 with 156,000 commercial layers.
The website calls that location as one that has received "dangerous contact" but "not infected." However, it appears that officials have decided that those birds could be a problem in keeping this strain of the virus contained, so the flock is in the process of being depopulated.
At this point- no H7N8 has been found outside of Dubois County. Limited genetic data from preliminary diagnostic tests last week showed this H7N8 virus originated from North America, while last year's strains had roots in Europe and Asia, government officials said.
North American viruses have typically posed less of a threat to humans than viruses from the Asian Avian H5N1 lineage, said Carol Cardona, an avian flu expert at the University of Minnesota. (quoted in coverage of the outbreak in this article from CNBC.)
Viruses in the H5N1 lineage "are super bad guys," Cardona said. Still, outbreaks of North American viruses in Pennsylvania in 1983 and British Columbia in 2000 were "devastating and difficult" for poultry, she added.
Click here for the webpage showing the status of the ten locations within Dubois County where the disease has been found.
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