Approximately 19,000 birds in Iowa might have the bird flu, the Iowa Department of Agriculture announced on Thursday.
BREAKING: Bird flu infection 'probable' in Iowa, 19,000 birds potentially affected: Iowa Department of Agriculture
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) April 30, 2015
Channel News Asia reported that the "probable" cases of the h5 bird flu stem from a chicken broiler breeding farm in Kossuth County, Iowa.
The Wright County Board of Supervisors declared a State of Emergency in the county on Thursday. Although Wright County hasn't reported any bird flu cases yet, the state of emergency is a precaution, according to KCCI News.
"With the current widespread outbreak of the HPAI in Northwest Iowa, and the potential severe economic impact such an outbreak could cause, we felt it necessary, as a Board, to declare this state of emergency," said Board of Supervisor Chairman Karl Helgevold.
KCCI News reported that throughout the week, a dangerously high number of bird flu cases have been confirmed throughout Iowa:
"On Wednesday, a laboratory in Ames operated by the USDA confirmed the H5N2 virus on a Sioux County farm with nearly 3.7 million egg-laying hens, two O'Brien County farms with a combined 338,000 hens and an Osceola County farm with 258,000 chickens.
An egg farm with 1.7 million chickens was confirmed late Monday."
Two Iowa turkey farms, which are home to a combined 18,000 birds, also has traces of the virus.
The potential 19,000 cases of the flu at a breeding farm is out of the ordinary due to the high standards those ranches are known for.
"Typically, such facilities' chickens lay fertile eggs, which are sent to a hatchery to produce chicks that are later raised and slaughtered for meat," Channel News Asia reported.
Despite the impending warm weather that is expected to help stop the Iowa outbreak, Reuters reported that "more than 15 million commercial birds nationwide have died or are expected to be killed in the current outbreak of the virus."
