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No new cases of avian influenza in southwest Indiana

An official with Indiana’s Board of Animal Health (BOAH) says no additional turkey farms in southwest Indiana have tested positive for avian influenza.  Denise Derrer says the agency is working to keep the virus contained.  “Half of the farms have been depopulated,” she says.  “The other half are in process.  We’ve had some weather hold-ups that have been hampering those efforts because of water lines freezing.”

She tells Brownfield BOAH will continue ongoing testing within the current control area.  “That’s important because we’re going to keep testing farms and testing farms to make sure we don’t have any new infection that we haven’t identified,” she says.  “We’re also going door-to-door to residences to make sure if they have a hobby or small flock of birds to make sure they get tested as well.”

Derrer says the agency is working to complete the disposal of the birds on infected farms.  “For turkeys we are going to do in-house composting,” she says.  “Which means they will be building compost piles inside the turkey houses.  They’ll be managed and there is a specific way to do it so that all the turkey carcasses will be broken down in about 30 days.  What will be left is a really nutrient-rich organic matter that can be spread.”

She says the virus cannot survive the temperatures of the compost pile.

Approximately 250,000 birds will be depopulated.

Avian influenza does not present a food safety risk and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk of illness to humans to be very low.