Health and USDA officials are clamoring to create an emergency bird flu plan after a new strain was found in a flock of American turkeys on Friday, according the Daily Mail. Billions were lost in the American poultry industry last year after a strain of the bird flu killed up to 48 million turkeys and chickens.
Now the same thing may happen again after the newest strain, H7N8, was found on an Indiana turkey farm. Not only is the new strain economically dangerous, but it also has similarities to strains that have affected humans in the past, according to CNBC. Authorities are busy concocting a plan to lower risk of human and animal infection.
"We are hopeful that as we respond very quickly to this virus that we can get it contained and hopefully not see an extensive outbreak like we did last year," said USDA associate deputy administrator for animal and plant health inspection T.J. Myers.
The process of quarantining the new strain will be difficult, since it hasn't been previously dealt with and killing the infected may not be done fast enough. Though most of the flock on the Indiana farm was killed within 29 hours.
Authorities say that the turkeys in Indiana were infected after a "less dangerous" form of the flu mutated, according to Medical Daily.
There have been no reported human infections so far.
