But even after euthanizing hundreds of thousands of birds, farms are not yet in the clear.
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The Indiana State Board of Animal Health said bird flu does not present a food safety risk if eggs and poultry are properly cooked. The virus was discovered on 10 turkey farms in Dubois County, which is Indiana’s top poultry-producing county.
A work station can be seen set up at the entrance to a commercial turkey farm in Dubois, Ind. on Monday, Jan. 18, 2016. Billions were lost in the American poultry industry past year after a strain of the bird flu killed up to 48 million turkeys and chickens.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the detection of a new strain of avian influenza H7N8 at the farm on Friday, and South Korea has halted imports of US poultry and poultry meat just two months after shipments were resumed.
An Indiana avian influenza outbreak has led to the euthanization of about 413,000 birds, 62 percent of them turkeys, and there have been no new cases reported since Saturday. She told HAT that non-infected birds are being placed in landfills, “Birds that were not infected, but were depopulated as a precaution, can be moved off the farm and be placed in landfills”.
The Indiana Department of Health statement said that the Dubois County H7N8 outbreak marks the first time that particular flu had been identified in birds in the United States. But he thinks it was spread from a wild bird. He said that state, industry, and federal sectors worked together to quickly isolate and depopulate the first flock and that efforts are under way to curb the spread of the low-pathogenic version of H7N8. All affected barns will then undergo a thorough cleaning and disinfection before farmers can restock.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the IN outbreak has been a test of whether officials are ready for future bird flu outbreaks and shows the need to stay on guard year-round.
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