Avian flu strikes again in North Dakota, Minnesota

Lone turkey
Lone turkey

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An outbreak of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza reported today on a North Dakota turkey farm is expected to be confirmed as that state's second H5N2 outbreak, while Minnesota reported two more H5N2 outbreaks in its top turkey-producing county, Kandiyohi.

The North Dakota Department of Agriculture (NDDA) said the illness struck a farm in the southeastern county of LaMoure, just north of Dickey County, where the state's first H5N2 outbreak was reported Apr 9. The LaMoure farm housed 69,900 turkeys and also about 2,000 chickens.

"A presumptive positive case was first identified by the University of Minnesota's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and confirmed by the APHIS [Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service] National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa," the NDDA announcement said.

"We have activated the avian influenza response plan that has been in place for some time," North Dakota State Veterinarian Susan Keller, DVM, said in the statement. "It is a collaborative effort with help from federal and state agencies, local officials and poultry producers."

The statement said North Dakota lawmakers have allotted $300,000 of federal spending authority to respond to avian flu outbreaks.

Late today, the Minnesota Board of Animal health (MBAH) reported two more turkey-farm outbreaks in Kandiyohi County, raising the county's total for affected farms to 17. The board also confirmed a large chicken-farm outbreak in Clay County, west of Detroit Lakes, which was reported by the news media yesterday.

The numbers of turkeys on the two Kandiyohi County farms were not yet available, the MBAH said. The chicken farm, an egg operation, had 265,382 birds.

The latest events raised Minnesota's numbers to more than 2.9 million affected birds at 49 sites in 17 counties, the MBAH reported.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) national list of recent avian flu outbreaks was updated to include four more today, but it appears that all four were previously reported by the states or the media. The four consist of one in Wisconsin (Chippewa County) and three in Minnesota (one in Clay County and two in Kandiyohi).

In other Minnesota H5N2 news, legislators are developing plans to provide access to emergency funds for the response if the situation worsens in coming weeks and months, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported today.

"We are trying to consider some options where the governor would have some mechanism to respond without having to call a special session [of the Legislature]," Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a Democrat, told the newspaper.

The state has incurred unexpected costs for the personnel, equipment, and testing measures it has used in the flu battle, the story noted. An initial $900,000 appropriation for the H5N2 response is awaiting legislative action, it said.

See also:

Apr 24 NDDA statement

MBAH list of outbreaks

USDA list of outbreaks

Apr 24 Star Tribune story

 

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