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 Additional tests are pending to confirm the highly pathogenic H5N2
that is rapidly spreading, agency officials said. Positive results
would push the outbreak's national tally to more than 15.1 million
affected birds from commercial flocks in 13 states.
In the avian influenza outbreak of 1983 to 1984 in the northeast,
which was the largest in U.S. history, about 17 million birds were
culled.
"This is a big deal," Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey
said during a conference call on Monday. "Going forward, the
question is are we done? Or does this mean more birds as we go
forward."
Iowa state officials have quarantined the five farm sites, Northey
said. Positive test results would mean that more than 9.5 million
birds in Iowa have been affected by the virus.
Iowa farms, on average, house an estimated 60 million egg-laying
hens, Northey said.
Also on Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that a
Wisconsin turkey farm with more than 1 million birds has tested
positive for the virus. More than 1.9 million commercial production
chickens and turkeys in Wisconsin have been affected by H5N2, state
and federal officials have said.
ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY
The potential economic cost of the outbreak is unclear.
Hormel Foods Corp <HRL.N>, based in Minnesota, said last week that
avian influenza may drag its fiscal 2015 earnings toward the lower
end of forecasts. More than two dozen of the poultry suppliers for
Hormel's Jennie-O Turkey Store unit have been hit by the outbreak.
Minnesota is the largest turkey-producing state in the country.
Last Tuesday, Mexico, the biggest buyer of U.S. chicken, halted
imports of live birds and eggs from Iowa.
Two bird flu strains have been discovered in the United States this
year. The H5N2 strain is in Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas,
Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota,
Washington and Wisconsin. It has also been identified on farms in
Ontario, Canada.
The H5N8 strain has been identified in California and also in Idaho,
U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed.
Wisconsin and Minnesota have each declared a state of emergency over
the outbreak.
Minnesota health officials said last week they were expediting
prescriptions for antiviral drug Tamiflu for farm workers and others
who have had direct contact with infected flocks. No human
infections have been reported in this outbreak.
The virus has not been reported in the country's leading chicken
meat producing states in the South, which include Georgia, Arkansas,
Alabama, Mississippi and North Carolina.
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The number of birds affected by the outbreak so far represents a
fraction of the U.S. commercial flock. Chicken dominates U.S.
poultry production. Poultry processors slaughtered nearly 8.7
billion chickens in 2014 and about 237 million turkeys, according
Agriculture Department data.
IOWA HARD HIT
Iowa, the leading U.S. producer of table eggs, has been hardest hit
in this outbreak, which was first identified in a backyard poultry
flock in Oregon in December.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship said on
Monday that initial positive tests for H5 avian influenza have been
found in a commercial egg-laying farm with an estimated 1.7 million
birds in Sioux County; a 250,000 egg-layer pullet farm in Osceola
County; and in two commercial egg-laying operations in O'Brien
County with a total of 338,000 birds.
Northey said a fifth farm, an egg-laying operation in Sioux County,
with another 3.8 million chickens was identified on Monday as
probably infected.
The five sites have been quarantined, state agriculture officials
said. If the tests are confirmed, all birds on the properties will
be euthanized.
Iowa said last week that a lethal strain of bird flu had been found
in hens at an egg-laying facility near the city of Harris run by
Sunrise Farms, an affiliate of Sonstegard Foods Company. The company
said that facility houses 3.8 million hens.
The virus can kill nearly an entire infected flock within 48 hours.
Millions of turkeys and chickens are in quarantine waiting to be
culled and large flocks have already been destroyed.
Officials have said they believe wild birds are spreading the virus
but they do not know how it is entering barns.
(This version of the story recasts first paragraph to make the scope
of probable new cases clear.)
(Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Ken
Wills)
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