Indiana outbreak of bird flu grows, an additional 26,000 turkeys to be killed from virus

The bird flu outbreak in Indiana is growing: The virus has been detected on a second turkey farm in Dubois County, according to the state. This farm houses 26,000 birds.

This is considered a presumptive-positive case at this time, according to the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, and samples are being verified at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary lab in Iowa.

While the results are pending, all the turkeys will be euthanized.

"The risk is too high of spread to wait until the laboratory confirmation comes in, especially with the presumptive positive and clinical signs in the birds already," said Denise Derrer Spears, spokeswoman for the board of animal health. "So the owners are taking action to prevent further spread."

This does not present an immediate concern to public health, federal officials said, but it does have agriculture and industry folks worried.

Last week, the USDA reported the confirmed case of the H5N1 strain of avian flu at a farm in Dubois County. It is a highly pathogenic strain, meaning it is lethal to all poultry that contract the disease. All turkeys at that farm — 29,000 — were euthanized to help control the spread.

It was the nation’s first confirmed case of the flu in a commercial operation since 2020 and six years since it was last found on farms in Indiana, when hundreds of thousands of birds were killed as a result.

Bird flu: Virus found on poultry farm in Indiana, nearly 30,000 turkeys killed to contain spread

As soon as the state received the first results Feb. 9, it issued a quarantine at the site and all those farms within a 10-kilometer radius primarily in Dubois County and a portion of northern Spencer County. That includes 17 other operations, Derrer Spears said.

The second affected farm is one of those within the control area and already under quarantine. The close proximity of that second farm to the initial site means the established control circle will remain the same.

All those farms within the control area will have to test their animals at least once each week to monitor for the disease. The first round of tests last week came back negative, Derrer Spears said.

The second flock was tested again after the farmer noticed water consumption by the birds dropped dramatically — a clinical sign of avian influenza.

The names of the affected farms have not been publicly released.

The euthanized turkeys from both farms will be disposed of onsite by composting them, a method that is approved and overseen by state and federal agencies. The barns and all equipment also need to be thoroughly cleaned – “eat off the floor clean,” Derrer Spears said.

Once the cleaning is complete and the disposal has reached a certain stage, the quarantine will be lifted. There are many factors involved and there is no target date to do that, the state said it likely will be about four to six weeks.

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The state Board of Animal Health has also established a surveillance zone that extends an additional 10 kilometers beyond the control area boundary to allow for additional monitoring for the virus in commercial poultry in the area. The operations in this zone are not under quarantine but will be tested regularly, though at less frequent intervals, until the control area is lifted.

It is unclear how the Dubois County flocks were infected. The avian flu viruses are fairly common in wild migratory birds and waterfowl, according to Derrer Spears, and ducks and geese that contract the disease will spread it in their droppings as they fly by.

Indiana is not the only state struggling with an outbreak of the virus.

Poultry operations in Kentucky and Virginia were confirmed to have birds infected with the highly lethal form of avian flu just days after the first Indiana flock tested positive — raising worries about a wider outbreak across the country.

The most recently identified infections occurred at a Tyson Foods commercial chicken operation in Kentucky with 240,000 birds as well as a backyard flock of mixed species in Virginia. Officials also are waiting for test results of a turkey flock in another Kentucky county.

The strain also has been wreaking havoc on Asia and Europe, and has been found in some wild birds along the East Coast. Canada recently confirmed an H5N1 bird flu in a commercial poultry operation in Nova Scotia.

This current Midwest outbreak is significant because it shows that the strain has entered a migratory pathway for birds called the Mississippi Flyway, which follows the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and includes several major poultry states such as Indiana.

The last time this bird flu was found in commercial poultry in Indiana was in January 2016. That situation similarly started with one flock and then testing showed that it had spread to nearly a dozen other flocks. Ultimately more than 400,000 birds across the state needed to be euthanized.

Dubois County is the top turkey producing county in Indiana. And Indiana is the third-largest turkey producing state in the country, the No. 1 state in duck production and the second largest in table eggs and egg-laying chickens.

Still, this outbreak is not only of concern for commercial farming operations.

Board of Animal Health staff continue to reach out to known hobby or backyard poultry owners in the control area to schedule testing of birds. The state said that to date, 25 such flocks have been sampled but the laboratory testing is not complete.

The state asks that hobby poultry owners in southern Dubois County contact the Board of Animal Health at 317-544-2387 to schedule testing at no charge.

Staff with the USDA-Wildlife Services in Indiana also is beginning wild bird surveillance efforts in the area.

Call IndyStar reporter Sarah Bowman at 317-444-6129 or email at sarah.bowman@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @IndyStarSarah. Connect with IndyStar’s environmental reporters: Join The Scrub on Facebook.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana outbreak of bird flu grows, lethal virus found at second farm