The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on April 6 that two more flocks of commercial Minnesota turkey have been infected with the lethal avian flu, out of which one flock is already in an quarantine zone.
According to the USDA, the US' top turkey producing state, Minnesota, has found the H5N2 bird flu infecting as many as seven flocks in the last month. Minnesota had to cull over 150,000 turkeys just last week because of the threat. This lethal flu has the capacity to kill a whole flock within two days.
The infection had affected the biggest turkey-producing counties of Minnesota, namely Stearns and Kandiyohi, which were the top two turkey producers in the state, in 2012, as per the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.
According to the association, 46 million turkeys are raised every year by Minnesota farmers, churning up an income of over $600m. Out of these, 90% of processed turkey products from Minnesota are exported out of the state, while 15% of that number are exported further to overseas destinations, stated the association.
The USDA reported that 240 million turkeys were raised across the US in 2013 alone.
Fear of H5N2 infections to recently affect the states extending from Arkansas to California have scared overseas buyers into importing US birds only from reputed companies like Pilgrim's Pride Corp., Tyson Foods Inc., Sanderson Farms Inc., etc.
The infection detected in the already quarantined flock belongs to the one in Stearns County, northwest of Minneapolis, with the flock numbering 76,000. This is the third case to affect the county.
The flock of Kandiyohi County, situated west of Minneapolis, which was infected with the bird flu, numbers 26,000 turkeys.
The USDA assured that the turkeys will not be allowed into the food supply and both flocks would be culled to prevent more outbreak of the virus.
Believed to spread because of waterfowl, officials are still not clear as how the virus has infiltrated into commercial poultry. According to the USDA, after molecular testing it was discovered that the avian flu virus is almost the same as viruses found in migratory ducks.
The USDA has warned people against coming into contact with wildlife and sick or dead poultry. Even without appearing sick, wild birds can host the virus. Until now, the H5N2 virus has not been detected in any human.
