Bird flu suspected at 5 more Iowa facilities

The bird flu epidemic in Iowa's commercial poultry operations leapt forward Monday with the announcement of five more probable cases.

Illustrating how volatile the situation has become, Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey, at a news conference called to announce four new cases, at the last minute added a fifth - an egg-laying facility in Sioux County affecting 3.8 million laying hens.

The five new probable cases are in addition to three confirmed Iowa cases announced earlier this month.

A total of 9.5 million Iowa laying hens - about one-sixth of the hen population of the nation's leading egg-producing state - have been presumed or confirmed positive for the highly pathogenic avian flu, Northey said.

'That is a big number. I hope we do not move far beyond that,” he said.

Like the three confirmed Iowa cases earlier this month, all five of the new cases are in northwest Iowa.

All five affect chickens rather than turkeys, which had been the predominant victims of the disease until late last week.

As in all such cases, the premises have been quarantined, and if the initial test are confirmed, all birds on the property will be euthanized to prevent spread of the disease, state officials said during a telephone news conference Monday afternoon.

The new cases include two egg-laying facilities in Sioux County, one with 3.8 million birds, the other with 1.7 million; a farm with 250,000 pullets, or young hens, in Osceola County; and two commercial laying operations in O'Brien County, one with 240,000 hens, the other with 98,000.

In all five new cases, initial testing yielded positive results for H5 avian influenza. Officials believe additional testing at an Ames lab will confirm the disease.

The United States has experienced three other outbreaks of bird flu in the past 100 years, according to Dr. T.J. Myers, an associate deputy administrator for veterinary services with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

The current outbreak threatens to surpass the previous worst, which resulted in the elimination of 17 million birds in the eastern United States in 1983, Myers said.

Myers said bird flu is spread primarily by migratory ducks and geese.

Cases in the current outbreak have been confirmed at more than 70 facilities in 13 states.

Northey said Iowa officials have discussed declaring a state of emergency, as both Wisconsin and Minnesota have done.

'I think we will continue to have conversations about that, but we are not ready to announce anything today,” he said.

Dr. Ann Garvey, Iowa public health veterinarian, said the H5 virus has 'never caused human illness anywhere.”

Myers said the USDA has spent $60 million so far to help indemnify producers affected by the disease.

They are compensated for the value of euthanized birds but not for revenue lost during the shutdown of their facility, he said.

Northey said it is too soon to tell if bird flu losses will affect the price of eggs and poultry.

'It really depends on how far this goes,” he said.

Myers said producers and officials hope the onset of warmer weather will end the spread.

'A big concern,” he said, 'is whether it will recur in the fall when the weather cools and waterfowl migrate again.”