The first highly pathogenic case of avian influenza (HPAI) this year has to date been limited to a turkey flock in southwestern Indiana, but authorities ordered the depopulation of 245,000 turkeys and 156,000 egg laying hens in the quarantine zone as a precaution.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection service recorded more than 220 negative test results after an initial flurry last Friday – after HPAI first being detected and confirmed last Thursday, January 14. The strain of the high pathogenic virus – H7N8 – is different than the two that caused the outbreak last year. Most of the subsequent tests in the quarantine zone turned out to be low pathogenic strains of the virus. It appears that there was a low pathogenic virus circulating in the poultry population in this area, and that virus likely mutated into a highly pathogenic virus in one turkey flock.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the risk of illness to humans from bird flu to be very low. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says no human infections from the H7N8 strain found in Indiana have been detected.
State and federal officials hope the current situation has been contained and that there’s no wider impact. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in media reports that the rapid response developed after last year’s outbreaks seems to have worked, but noted a team is in place to rapidly euthanize flocks and contain any spread.
