Highly infectious strain of bird flu found in Iowa turkeys

Highly pathogenic avian flu has been confirmed for the first time in an Iowa commercial turkey flock, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship reported Tuesday.

This form of the virus is 'is an extremely infectious and fatal form of the disease that, once established, can spread rapidly from flock to flock and has also been known to affect humans,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - the agency that confirmed the H5N2 bird flu in a flock of 27,000 turkeys in northwest Iowa's Buena Vista County.

State officials quarantined the premises, and birds on the property will be killed and disposed of to prevent the spread of the disease, the Iowa Agriculture Department said.

Birds from the flock will not enter the food system.

No human infections have yet been detected, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the risk to people to be low.

Gretta Irwin, executive director of the Iowa Turkey Federation, said the effect of the disease on the price of turkeys 'is yet to be determined.”

The impact so far is less than 1 percent of the state's annual production of 11 million turkeys, she said.

Among the 50 states, Iowa ranks ninth in turkey production and fifth in turkey processing, according to Irwin.

'The assumption is that the disease is being spread from wild birds - primarily ducks and geese - rather than from domestic flock to domestic flock,” Irwin said.

Though wild birds do not often commingle with domestic turkeys, their feces can be carried in on shoes, boots and equipment, she said.

Turkey producers will step up their biosecurity protocols in an effort to keep the disease from entering their facilities, she said.

Although wild birds can carry the disease, they do not typically get sick and die, she said.

Chickens are also susceptible to the disease, but only one of about 35 recent confirmed infections have involved chickens, according to state Agriculture Department spokesman Dustin Vande Hoef.

All the others have affected turkeys, primarily in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North and South Dakota, he said.

After the infected Buena Vista County flock experienced increased mortality, samples were submitted to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, whose tests confirmed the diagnosis.

APHIS is working closely with the Iowa Agriculture Department on a joint response, which includes the following basic steps: restricting movement of poultry and poultry-moving equipment into and out of the control area; eradicating affected flocks; testing wild and domestic birds in a broad area around the quarantine area; disinfecting affected flock locations to kill the virus; and testing to confirm that poultry farms in the area are free of the virus.

USDA also is working with its partners to observe and test for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets, and in migratory wild bird populations.