Thursday, April 23, 2015

Minnesota being hammered by avian flu

Minnesota is being hammered by avian influenza.

There are 14 new cases this week, increasing the total to 44 farms and 2.5 million birds in Minnesota alone.

The United States Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration held a press conference to discuss preliminary work under way on vaccines for both poultry and humans.

Since mid-December there have been several ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 incidents along the Pacific, Central and Mississippi flyways.

Cases in wild birds, captive wild birds, backyard poultry or commercial poultry have been reported in Arkansas, California, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. 

Canada had 11 commercial poultry farms infected in British Columbi around Christmas time and this month two farms in Oxford County, Ontario, have been hit.