New Strain of Bird Flu Found

Indiana wildlife experts said that southern migration happened later than normal this year because of the mild weather, but it’s unclear “how much of a factor that has been in this”, according to Indiana Board of Animal Health spokeswoman Denise Derrer.

Huntingburg-based Farbest Farms said in a news release Friday that its surveillance protocol for bird flu quickly detected the H7N8 strain. APHIS and state officials are collaborating to euthanize the entire flock to prevent the disease from spreading, he said. Dubois farmer Steve Kalb said this afternoon the birds were raised on a farm run by he and his father, Dan. The birds are property of Farbest Foods. This is the latest outbreak following the spate of multi-state bird flu cases past year.

The Indiana State Board of Animal Health said the avian flu does not present a food safety risk and poultry and eggs are safe to eat. There are no known cases of H7N8 infections in humans.

The USDA has confirmed a case of deadly avian influenza in a commercial turkey flock in Dubois County, Indiana. However, APHIS reminded consumers to cook all poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit to kill bacteria and viruses, including HPAI.

‘They want to make sure it is not being spread, ‘ she said. A vaccine has been developed to cover the H5N2 strain, but it is not effective against the IN strain, Myers said, although new techniques could help with the development of a more specific vaccine if needed.

So far it’s unclear what the threat from H7N8 is to the United States poultry industry, he said. Since the outbreak previous year, and all the lessons learned from that, there has been a lot of good work to increase our preparatory efforts at the federal side, the state side, and the industry side.

No additional turkey farms in a southern in county have tested positive for bird flu since an outbreak at 10 farms, where almost 250,000 turkeys will be killed as a result, authorities said Sunday.

The U.S.is making contact with key trading partners to communicate about the outbreak.