Bird Flu Outbreak Prompts State of Emergency in Iowa

Proclamation authorizes use of state resources to track and monitor virus, establish restrictions and rapidly detect cases

ENLARGE
A bird flu outbreak is forcing farms to kill more than 17 million chickens and turkeys. PHOTO:ASSOCIATED PRESS


By KELSEY GEE
Updated May 1, 2015 6:39 p.m. ET

Iowa became the third state to declare an emergency response to a fast-expanding U.S. bird-flu outbreak on Friday as the national poultry death toll climbed toward record levels.

Officials in Iowa, the biggest egg-producing state, said they had identified four more suspected cases of avian influenza, and the likely number of birds affected in the state is now more than 16 million. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad declared a state of emergency, the same move that was made last month by his counterparts in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

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The virus strain poses a low risk to human health, and no human infections have been identified so far, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nationally, the number of poultry that will have died or been exterminated to prevent further spread of the highly infectious virus is expected to increase to about 21 million based on the latest cases in Iowa. That would exceed the 17 million that were killed in the last major U.S. outbreak in the 1980s.

Though the number of cases nationally represents a fraction of the poultry industry’s annual production of about nine billion chickens and turkeys and the egg industry’s 303 million birds, industry and government officials are concerned it could spread further and cause reduced supplies and financial pain for farmers.

The disease in the past two weeks has quickly spread in Iowa’s egg industry, affecting roughly 25% of the egg-laying hens in the state. In 10 counties, Iowa has identified 21 suspected or confirmed cases of the disease, up from three cases one week ago. The virus previously had hit hardest in Minnesota, the nation’s top turkey producer, though it has afflicted poultry in more than a dozen states.

Iowa officials said they remain hopeful that warmer weather should slow the spread of the virus, which scientists have said is less likely to survive in higher temperatures.

“We are taking the matter very seriously and believe declaring a state of emergency is the best way to make all resources available,” Gov. Branstad said on Friday.

The proclamation of disaster emergency declared Friday allows state officials to deploy more people and other resources to address the outbreak, including public-safety and public-health employees. It also allows the state Transportation Department to reroute traffic surrounding quarantine areas, and enlists other agencies to assist in livestock-disposal efforts.

The original strain was first recorded by the USDA in December in wild fowl in Washington state and then spread in its current form to a backyard poultry flock, according to scientists. The strain since has traveled to states as far away as Arkansas, Kansas and South Dakota.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/bird-flu...owa-1430514629