Eight new H5N1 avian flu outbreaks have been reported in US poultry, six of them in Minnesota, with one each in Montana and Wisconsin. The largest was at a commercial turkey farm in Barron County, Wisconsin, with 79,100 birds. Two commercial turkey farms in Stearns County, Minnesota, accounted for 51,500 birds. Over the past 30 days the virus has been confirmed in 20 flocks, 13 commercial and seven backyard, affecting about 560,000 birds.
Minnesota has also recorded at least 40 detections in wild birds in the past 10 days, most of them in the seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The affected birds include mallards, Canada geese and three bald eagles. Separately, a study reported that three dead polar bears in Alaska tested positive for highly pathogenic H5 avian flu during 2023 and 2024. The authors described it as a possible emerging threat to polar bears in the Alaskan Arctic, while noting that immunity may be building in the population.
Source: Read the full story at CIDRAP
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