A highly pathogenic avian influenza has rocked a Dubois County turkey farm after more than 100 of its birds were found to have died from the illness, a scale that has not been reported in Indiana since 2016.

In a statement, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) said that the United States Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratory was the one that notified it about poultry from a commercial turkey farm in Dubois County that tested positive for H5N1, a highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Avian Influenza Outbreak

The term highly pathogenic means that it is much more severe and more transmissible among birds. However, Avian influenza does not present a food safety risk, with poultry and eggs being safe to eat when handled and cooked properly. There have been no cases of avian influenza detected in the United States.

Authorities took samples from the Dubois County turkey farm's 100 birds and tested them in a Purdue University laboratory. The BOAH said that it was "actively working" to increase monitoring of poultry across the state, WTHR reported.

A state official warned Minnesota farmers about the incident after hunters killed several wild ducks in the southeastern United States that have tested positive for H5N1. The Avian influenza strain has also been recorded in eastern Canada.

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Despite Minnesota being far from the cases, the official notified Minnesota poultry producers ahead of the spring waterfowl migration to prepare. Minnesota BOAH senior veterinarian Shauna Voss said that the number of detections showed that influenza was surging in healthy wild birds. They noted that it was circulating and was expected to be present in those populations.

Inforum reported that Voss said that the Avian influenza strain reaching Minnesota was not a matter of if but a matter of when. The Department of Agriculture added that the virus strains Eurasian H5 Avian influenza. Europe has recently been struggling with an outbreak of Avian influenza.

Culling of Thousands of Birds

A spokesman for the Indiana State BOAH, Denise Derrer Spears, said in an interview that roughly 29,000 turkeys would be culled to ensure that the Avian influenza strain does not spread. Authorities have placed the Dubois County turkey farm under quarantine to contain the virus.

State officials are currently working with poultry producers across the state to monitor flocks and keep the Avian influenza strain in check. It was noted that the 2016 outbreak of bird flu in the region affected 11 poultry farms, resulting in the death of more than 400,000 birds.

Indiana is in third place in the United States when it comes to turkey production, first in duck production, second in the production of table eggs and egg-laying chickens, and is known to be a significant producer of broiler chickens, said the state agency. The poultry industry in the state provides jobs to more than 14,000 Hoosiers and is valued at $2.5 billion annually. This suggests that the Avian influenza strain could have a significant impact on the region's economy as well as its production and distribution across the nation, as per ABC News.

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