Agricultural officials in Iowa said Tuesday they’ve uncovered at least two more bird flu outbreaks among commercial flocks of birds.
The latest outbreaks will require a total of over 1.5 million hens and turkeys to be killed, according to the Associated Press. One outbreak occurred at an egg farm roughly 60 miles from Des Moines, where a majority of the birds that must be executed will be killed, the outlet reported. The other was identified at a turkey farm some 65 miles north of Iowa’s capital, with at least 28,000 birds there requiring execution, AP continued.
The bodies of the killed birds will likely be put in a compost pit on the farms that housed them, AP reported. (RELATED: FLASHBACK: Fauci Once Urged Scientists To Stop Enhancing The Flu Virus, Although He Supported Their Research)
Iowa agriculture officials announced two more bird flu outbreaks in commercial flocks that will require the killing of more than 1.5 million hens and turkeys.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says 17 states have had outbreaks this year. https://t.co/vTHAWiHOcU
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 29, 2022
In an effort to subdue avian flu, at least 7 million chickens and turkeys have been killed across over a dozen states already in 2022, according to another AP report. Iowa State Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Kaisand told the AP that the disease is likely being carried by wild migratory birds such as ducks and geese that do not present with symptoms of the disease.
Workers, rodents, birds, dust particles and equipment can spread the bird flu to commercial and private flocks, studies have indicated, the AP reported. The Department of Agriculture reported that bird flu was identified in at least 25 states among wild birds, according to the AP. The disease does not commonly jump to people, according to health officials referenced by the AP.
In 2021, China reported at least one human case of the H5N6 bird flu virus, one of many strains identified in the last two decades. Between 2016 and 2017, roughly 300 people died of the H7N9 strain.