Outbreaks of bird flu put four states on alert - Entrepreneur Generations

Outbreaks of avian influenza in four states in the last week have raised national concerns.

A Tyson Foods plant in Kentucky and a backyard flock Virginia "were confirmed to have birds infected with a highly lethal form of avian flu, federal agriculture officials said Monday, days after a flock of turkeys in Indiana tested positive" and was destroyed, The Washington Post reports. The Kentucky outbreak was at a plant in Fulton, on the Tennessee border, so that state also went on alert.

The last national bird-flu outbreak, in 2015, killed about 50 million birds. "The outbreak also led to a $1.1 billion decrease in exports of broiler chickens in 2015, compared with the prior year," Andrew Jeong reports for the Post. "Egg export income declined by $41 million, while income for turkey export fell by $177 million during the same period."

The disease poses no food-safety risks, as long as poultry and eggs are properly cooked, but birds from flocks identified with it will be banned from the food system. No human cases of bird-flu viruses have been detected in the U.S.

"Anyone involved with poultry production from a small backyard to a large commercial producer should review their biosecurity activities to ensure the health of their birds," the Kentucky Department of Agriculture said in a news release. "In addition to practicing good biosecurity, all bird owners should prevent contact between their birds and wild birds." More information on biosecurity for backyard flocks is at http://healthybirds.aphis.usda.gov.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/Pz4ZQH6 Outbreaks of bird flu put four states on alert - Entrepreneur Generations

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