Dive Brief:
- Late last week, reports of the fourth and fifth turkey farms to be hit with the avian flu strain H5N2 were released in Minnesota.
- Also late last week, South Dakota reported the H5N2 virus for the first time, found in a commercial 53,000-turkey flock in Beadle County.
- No human cases of H5N2 have been reported in the U.S. as of yet, and health officials say there likely isn't much danger to public health. However, a similar strain has been reported in humans in other countries, according to the CDC.
Dive Insight:
The spread of H5N2 in turkey farms throughout Minnesota may be alarming, but they don't appear to be connected in terms of the spread as of yet. According to Reuters, Erica Gunderson, spokeswoman for Minnesota's Board of Animal Health, said that the outbreaks are not spread from farm to farm due to "geographic separation [of] outbreaks in the state and staggered timing of infections."
At the same time, other wildlife experts do not believe that wild birds are responsible for the spread of the virus in the Midwest either. How then are these outbreaks continuing to occur?