May 18, 2015

Minnesota suffers biggest bird flu outbreak; 2 million more birds to be killed

A Minnesota egg producer, one of the largest in the US, said it would kill 2 million hens in the next four weeks due to continuing infection of the deadly H5N2 avian influenza.

Minnesota's Star Tribune reported that Rembrandt Enterprises' latest barn to be infected--located at Renville--housed around 200,000 birds, which would all be killed as a precautionary measure. The latest outbreak, reported on Saturday, is said to be Minnesota's single largest outbreak of the bird-flu virus.

Minnesota, along with Wisconsin and Iowa, which is the country's No. 1 egg producer, has declared a state of emergency because of the bird-flu crisis.

"We're doing everything we possibly can [to protect flocks], and we don't know of anyone who's doing anything we're not already doing", said Jonathan Spurway, Rembrandt Enterprises' vice president for marketing. "The industry is lost for words".

The number of affected birds in 15 states has reached 35 million, according to latest data.

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health, meanwhile, has announced that all bird exhibitions are cancelled at this year's Minnesota State Fair and all other county fairs to stem the spread of the H5N2 bird-flu virus.

State Fair General Manager Jerry Hammer welcomed the animal health board's directive saying the board "has absolutely made the right decision".