Avian Flu Outbreak Push Iowa Farm to Kill 5 Million Chickens

More than five million chickens will be euthanized in Iowa after a confirmed outbreak of H5N2 avian influenza in the state was announced last Monday by the US Department of Agriculture. This is the biggest bird flu outbreak yet.

The agency added that humans have little to no chance of becoming infected with the bird flu. "The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Iowa Department of Public Health consider the risk to people from these HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low. No human infections with the virus have ever been detected," the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced in their website.

Dan Charles from NPR reports that the virus spreads very quickly among flocks and is cause of worry for the poultry industry.

"It showed up five months ago and ever since the American poultry industry has been on edge. Holding its breath. They tried everything to keep it out. But one after the other, flocks have become infected."

The unnamed egg-producing facility is located in Osceola County, Iowa.

"It's one of the bigger farms in the state," Bill Northey, Iowa's secretary of agriculture told Des Moines Register. "But when there's an outbreak like this, you have to make sure the disease doesn't leave."

Iowa is the largest egg producer. They have more than 40 million hens which means one in every five eggs in the United States are from the said state.

The massive bird fatalities this time in Iowa is three times more than Minnesota's 1.7 million turkey casualties. The Star Tribune reports that Minnesota remains the heart of the H5Ns outbreak, affecting Hormel an Austin-based food corporation for its bird meat.

After the birds are disposed, the hen houses and places where these stayed will be cleansed and disinfected. The agencies will then test other nearby poultry farms for the virus.

According to egg experts, it is too early to know if the outbreak will affect the prices of the eggs.

"Don't panic. Let's wait and see," said Simon Shane, a poultry industry consultant via Associated Press.

He explained that prices will soar if 20 million to 30 million hens will be affected.

"It may not have a direct effect on shell egg pricing but any time you take production out of a marketplace there's likely to be some consequence," said Randy Olson, executive director of Iowa Poultry Association. "I anticipate the market and production will recover, but right now we're reminding people that this is not a food safety issue and it's not a human health issue."