Big layer farms in Nebraska and South Dakota were hit, as were 2 farms each in Minnesota and Iowa.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH), which reported 9 MERS-CoV cases on May 11, has added 3 more in the past 3 days and reported 2 deaths in previously reported cases as it is apparently grappling with a Web site failure, switching to a new—and detail-limited—reporting system, or both.
H5N2 has turned up on 2 more South Dakota turkey farms, and Iowa has a new suspected outbreak.
The Midwest adds another state to those with outbreaks, this one on a farm housing 1.7 million layers.
Immunizing pregnant women rated as best pertussis defense for infants
High-path H5N8, previously found in the US only in the West, has been detected in a backyard poultry flock in Indiana.
Veterinary officials in Burkina Faso and Turkey reported more highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu outbreaks, as their counterparts in Taiwan reported that highly pathogenic H5N2 has struck 10 more locations, according to separate reports to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Evidence from Minnesota supports airborne spread as a dead owl in Wisconsin is found to harbor H5N2.
Experts say H5N2 is changing its transmission pattern, raising the possibility of barn-to-barn spread through the air.
Blue Bell Creameries, which has been linked to 10 listeriosis cases in four states in an outbreak that spans several years, had evidence of Listeria in its Oklahoma plant as early as March 2013, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report today said, according to an Associated Press (AP) story.
