BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Bird flu has been confirmed in a second commercial poultry flock in North Dakota, state officials announced Friday.
The highly contagious H5 virus was detected in a flock of about 69,000 turkeys and about 2,000 chickens in LaMoure County. The operation has been quarantined and the flock will be destroyed, according to the state Department of Agriculture. Domestic birds within 6 miles of the affected farm also will be monitored and tested, and their movement will be restricted.
“We have activated the avian influenza response plan that has been in place for some time,” State Veterinarian Susan Keller said in a statement. “It is a collaborative effort with help from federal and state agencies, local officials and poultry producers.”
The National Veterinary Services Laboratories is working to confirm whether the virus is the H5N2 strain that has cost Midwestern chicken and turkey producers more than 7 million birds since early March. Confirmation is not expected for a few days, Agriculture Department spokeswoman Michelle Mielke said.
Regardless of what strain it is, lab testing has already confirmed that the virus in the LaMoure County flock is highly contagious, she said. Other highly pathogenic viruses in the H5 family have been detected in other parts of North America, though none in the Midwest.
The H5N2 virus was confirmed earlier this month at a commercial poultry farm in Dickey County, which neighbors LaMoure County in southeastern North Dakota. The 40,000 turkeys at the Dickey County farm have since been destroyed, Mielke said.
Dickey County borders South Dakota, which has had six confirmed cases of H5N2 affecting 289,000 birds. It is close to Minnesota, where the virus has cost farms in the nation’s leading turkey-producing state almost 2.6 million birds. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday declared a state of emergency to fight the H5N2 strain.
The North Dakota Legislature has approved up to $300,000 in emergency spending to combat avian influenza. Poultry owners are being asked to take protective measures such as restricting access to their property, and to report any bird deaths to local or state veterinarians.
Federal officials stress the risk to public health from the bird flu virus is low and that there’s no danger to the food supply.
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