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The Minnesota Animal Health Council on Thursday identified low pathogenic avian influenza H5N2 in a group of turkeys from Stearns County
The council, in a press release, said that it was not the same virus that had caused the 2015 bird flu outbreak and that this strain posed no risk to public health or to food safety.
The virus was detected during a routine test, according to Dale Lauer, director of the Minnesota Poultry Testing Laboratory and deputy director of the board of directors. All flocks of poultry are tested before marketing, as part of a program to detect any sign of avian influenza.
"We test all our poultry flocks before they are put on the market and before processing, so this is part of a routine surveillance that we do all year," said Lauer.
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The herd of 13-week-old chickens has been quarantined and will be tested and monitored until the board determines that the herd is free of viruses, the statement said.
"We are quarantining herds and none of these birds are leaving the farm," said Lauer. "We allow birds to recover, as when people get the flu, we tell them to stay at home, take medicine and lie on the floor, which is what we do with these herds as well."
The affected turkeys will be allowed to enter the market with the agreement of the board of directors once they have recovered and will have detected the virus negative for the disease, the statement said.
"We will continue to monitor this herd in Stearns County and we will do it every week," said Lauer. "Once the virus stops spreading and the flock is clinically normal, it goes on the market."
This is the second case of avian influenza detected this year. A group of turkeys in Kandiyohi County has been confirmed positive for H5N2 low pathogenic avian influenza end of October.
But this is not the same strain of the virus that affected more than 9 million birds in Minnesota in the spring of 2015.
Lauer said the strain this year had North American origins, while the 2015 virus was a Eurasian strain. Tests conducted at the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, confirmed the origins of this year's strain.
Because the virus is weakly pathogenic, it does not kill birds and the jury adopts a quarantine approach after detecting the virus instead of destroying the herds.
"It's an important distinction.It's a different virus from the one we had in 2015," he said. Steve Olson, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association and the Chicken and Egg Association of Minnesota. "It is weakly pathogenic, which means it's not virulent and that it does not kill birds."
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The discovery of the virus has put producers "on the alert," Olson said in an interview on Thursday. Farmers are putting in extra surveillance to detect more signs of the virus.
But because of the seasonal migration of wild birds, growers are always more vigilant against bird flu at this time of year.
"This is what we do every fall and every spring because wild birds have been the survivors of this virus and other diseases," said Olson. "When these wild birds move, we are on high alert."
Lauer said that there is no risk to public health or food security, and that Council will continue to monitor the situation.
"(The public) can go to the grocery store in his neighborhood and be assured that any poultry product, whether it's egg, turkey or chicken, is free of the flu virus because these programs are in place, "said Lauer.
Minnesota is the country's largest turkey producer and Stearns County is the second largest state producer behind Kandiyohi County.
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