Source: MEATINGPLACE, 4/3/15

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the finding of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza in a backyard poultry flock in central Montana.

Samples from the mixed-poultry flock in Judith Basin County, between Great Falls and Billings, were tested at the APHIS laboratory in Ames, Iowa. Montana officials quarantined the affected premises, and birds on the property will be depopulated, APHIS said.

The list of states with cases of avian flu is growing. This week the H5N2 strain was confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in Beadle County, South Dakota, and Minnesota had a fourth finding of H5N2, also in a commercial turkey flock.

States so far impacted by various AI strains in either wild or commercial flocks include: Arkansas, California, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming, Washington and now Montana.

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