Bird flu confirmed at 1 ND turkey farm, 4 more in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A deadly bird flu strain was confirmed Friday at one North Dakota turkey farm and at four more in Minnesota, raising the number of farms affected across the Midwest to 20 and the toll to almost 1.1 million birds since the outbreak was first confirmed in early March.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the new cases in Minnesota of the highly contagious H5N2 strain are in Cottonwood, Lyon, Watonwan and Stearns counties. The four new farms housed a combined 189,000 turkeys.

In North Dakota, State Veterinarian Susan Keller said the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Iowa confirmed the H5N2 strain of avian influenza in a flock of 40,000 turkeys in Dickey County. It’s that state’s first confirmed case of the flu strain.

Officials in both states said those turkeys not killed by the virus will be euthanized to prevent the disease from spreading.

Once those birds have been destroyed, the 20 farms in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas will have lost nearly 1.1 million turkeys. Canadian officials confirmed Wednesday that a turkey farm in southern Ontario with 44,800 birds was hit, too. The USDA has sent more than 40 experts to Minnesota to assist in the response.

Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson said his state has about 450 farms that raise around 46 million turkeys annually. The losses so far work out to about 1.9 percent of the state’s yearly production.

“For these companies, and obviously for the farmers and their families that have been impacted by the H5N2 virus, there are some really difficult times ahead,” he said.

Officials stress the risk to public health is low and that there’s no danger to the food supply. No human cases have been detected in the U.S., said Dr. Joni Scheftel, state public health veterinarian with the Minnesota Department of Health.