Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 4/28/15

Yet another commercial poultry operation in Iowa is now dealing with a bird flu outbreak even as Minnesota officials expand their response and project what dealing with the situation may eventually cost.

Iowa’s Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey announced that a fifth poultry operation — an egg-laying facility in Sioux County — tested positive for the H5 strain of avian influenza yesterday. The news that 3.7 million chickens may have been affected almost immediately followed news that four other poultry farms were confirmed to have been hit by H5 outbreaks. The most recent outbreaks could result in the culling of an estimated 6.1 million birds, including 3.8 chickens at the Sioux County plant, officials said.

Northey added that there is “a belief” the avian influenza crisis will dissipate when the weather turns warmer, but added that the virus could return in the fall, according to a Radio Iowa report.

Meanwhile, officials in Minnesota are bracing for the economic fallout of the avian flu outbreak at 55 farms within the state, including the cost of reimbursing poultry farmers for the birds slaughtered in order to stop the spread of the disease. State officials — who expanded the recent state of emergency for another month — originally asked for $900,000 to cover the response efforts. The latest figure is now $7.3 million over the next 12 month, according to the Star Tribune.

More than 3 million turkeys and chickens in Minnesota have been killed so far, and state and federal government policies usually reimburse farmers for birds that are killed to prevent the spread of avian flu, but not those that die from the virus.

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