MONEY

3rd bird flu outbreak hits 34,000 Iowa turkeys

Donnelle Eller
deller@dmreg.com

A third case of avian influenza has been identified in Iowa, this time infecting a commercial facility with 34,000 turkeys in Sac County.

Trucks are sprayed with disinfectant before leaving Sunrise Farms in Harris Iowa, the nation's largest egg-laying facility Thursday, April 23, 2015. The 3.8 million chickens at the facility will be destroyed after the H5N2 bird flu virus was found.

The operation is within the 10-kilometer monitoring zone of the state's first case, a commercial turkey facility with 27,000 birds in Buena Vista County. That case was reported last week.

The tests taken from the Sac County facility were part of the state and federal surveillance of nearby facilities, the Iowa Department of Agriculture said Thursday.

RELATED: Officials hope largest U.S. outbreak is Iowa's last | 5.3 million Iowa laying hens to be destroyed in bird flu outbreak

Bill Northey, Iowa's secretary of agriculture, said officials have been unable to fully sequence the virus, but they believe it's H5N2, based on the high mortality of birds at the Sac County facility. "It's extremely aggressive," he said.

State officials have quarantined the Sac County operation, and birds on the property will be euthanized.

Trucks are sprayed with disinfectant before leaving Sunrise Farms in Harris Iowa, the nation's largest egg-laying facility Thursday, April 23, 2015. The 3.8 million chickens at the facility will be destroyed after the H5N2 bird flu virus was found.

The newest case comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's announcement that the nation's largest bird flu outbreak was identified in northwest Iowa's Osceola County.

State and federal officials are working with that egg-laying facility, Sunrise Farms, to destroy 3.8 million hens.

"We're hopeful that we won't see any more sites with outbreaks," Northey said. "But there's no way to know."

Federal officials expect warmer weather to help knock down the flu's spread through U.S. poultry operation. But they're worried that even if the virus wanes this summer, it could flare up again when the weather cools.

Trucks are sprayed with disinfectant before leaving Sunrise Farms in Harris Iowa, the nation's largest egg-laying facility Thursday, April 23, 2015. The 3.8 million chickens at the facility will be destroyed after the H5N2 bird flu virus was found.

Those concerns have prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to work on a vaccine to counter the deadly strain. And although there is no evidence the public is at risk of contracting the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering whether a vaccine could be needed for humans.

Nationally, nearly 7.4 million chickens, turkeys and backyard poultry have been identified with avian influenza, which can kill a bird within 48 hours.

Trucks are sprayed with disinfectant before leaving Sunrise Farms in Harris Iowa, the nation's largest egg-laying facility Thursday, April 23, 2015. The 3.8 million chickens at the facility will be destroyed after the H5N2 bird flu virus was found.

"I would prefer to not deal with more cases, but I'm confident we can deal with the cases as they come," Northey said.

Officials consider the risk to humans from the disease to be low and the food supply to be safe. No human infections with the virus have ever been detected.

Scientists and government officials believe the virus is being spread through migratory birds in the Mississippi flyway, where the strain previously has been identified. The birds are believed to transmit the illness through their droppings.

The disease has been discovered at more than 50 sites across the country in several states, including Arkansas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Trucks are sprayed with disinfectant before leaving Sunrise Farms in Harris Iowa, the nation's largest egg-laying facility Thursday, April 23, 2015. The 3.8 million chickens at the facility will be destroyed after the H5N2 bird flu virus was found.