Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 6/1/15


The massive highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the Midwest continues to expand with USDA reporting five new outbreaks in Minnesota and another in Iowa since late last week.

The agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) reported that the Minnesota outbreaks of H5N2 at five commercial turkey farms bring the number of positive detections in the state to 92. More than 8.2 million birds in Minnesota have been affected to far, with the bulk of them destroyed to stem the spread of the disease.

The Iowa outbreak in Wright County involved a commercial chicken plant with 991,500 birds, APHIS reported. Iowa has been especially hard hit with HPAI with the number of positive detections of the H5N2 virus at 64 and more than 29 million birds affected.

Overall, 197 detections of H5N2 have been confirmed across the United States since the first outbreak was reported Dec. 19, 2014, according to APHIS. The agency notes that 44.6 million U.S. birds (mostly turkeys and egg-laying chickens) have been affected during that time.

Several experts have predicted that warmer weather will help stem the spread of HPAI, although poultry farmers remain wary of what might happen this fall when cooler weather returns to North America.

No human cases of HPAI H5 have been reported in humans in North America so far, APHIS reported.

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