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Avian flu has infected 1/4 of Iowa’s laying hens

Iowa officials announced five new probable cases of the avian flu Thursday afternoon. Three of the new cases are in Buena Vista County including one facility with 5.5 million egg-laying hens.

That pushes the number of Iowa facilities infected to 17.  The approximately 15 million laying hens infected represent about one-fourth of Iowa’s layers.

Iowa ag secretary Bill Northey says the outbreaks are happening in spite of heightened biosecurity on farms.

“So even though ever truck has been washed on and off that farm, and every person maintained biosecurity, there could be something that flew over and left something on that farm that somebody walks through to take into a barn,” Northey says.

It’s believed the disease has been spread by migratory waterfowl.

Meanwhile, the Wright County, Iowa board of supervisors voted Thursday to declare a state of emergency because of the avian flu, even though no cases have been reported in the county.

The Wright County engineer and sheriff have been asked to develop a plan for rerouting traffic around poultry facilities in an effort to help prevent the spread of the disease.

Officials say they are taking the action because of the potential economic harm to the county should an outbreak occur. The poultry industry employs 600 people in Wright County.