DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey on April 20 ordered that 3.8 million chickens from a northwestern Iowa commercial (5.3 million capacity) poultry farm confirmed infected with the H5N2 avian influenza, to be destroyed to control the spread of the highly pathogenic disease.
This was the second of three confirmed outbreaks to hit the state in less than two weeks. "All these chickens will be killed to prevent the disease from getting to other birds," Northey told Nextstar Broadcasting on April 21.
According to the USDA, the second strike of H5N2 avian influenza in Iowa is the nation’s largest confirmed case of the deadly bird disease to date since December, when the virus was found in the Pacific, Central and Mississippi flyways.
A third H5N2 case in Iowa had been confirmed April 23 on a commercial farm with 34,000 turkeys in Sac County, which is adjacent to the first infected Buena Vista County farm. State officials have already quarantined the facility and the infected birds on the property will be destroyed, WHO-TV in Des Moines reported.
As the top egg-producing state, Iowa has approximately 60 million laying hens producing about 16.5 billion eggs in 2014 – or one out of every five eggs laid in the United States, according to the Iowa Egg Council.
Nationally, nearly 7.4 million chickens, turkeys and backyard poultry have been infected with the bird flu, the Des Moines Register reported.
The disease – caused by an influenza virus that can infect poultry, such as chickens, turkeys, domestic ducks and geese – is spread through the droppings of waterfowl, more specifically by migratory birds such as ducks, geese and shorebirds. In an April 22 teleconference with reporters, USDA Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford said it has also been found in some backyard and commercial poultry flocks.
"The risk to humans is low; our food supply is safe," he said. "We know how to address disease when we find it."
Angela Shaw, Iowa State University assistant professor in food science and human nutrition and extension food safety specialist, said humans can be infected with the virus, but "most cases involve very close direct contact with sick birds."
So far, this avian flu has struck 15 other states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker declared a state of emergency in response to a request from the state veterinarian, authorizing the Wisconsin National Guard to assist in containing the outbreak.
On April 14, the H5N2 virus was first detected in Iowa in a flock of 27,000 turkeys on an Osceola commercial farm in Buena Vista County, located within the Mississippi Flyway where this specific strain of avian influenza had previously been identified.