Avian flu returns to Minnesota

By Reed Anfinson
Publisher

Minnesota has reported its first case of avian influenza, the deadly virus that inflects poultry, waterfowl, and other birds.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) was confirmed today in a backyard flock in Le Sueur County in south central Minnesota. The disease was confirmed in test samples from the diseased flock by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa. The site is quarantined, and the birds on the premises were euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease.

While in the past it has been suspected that Minnesota’s cases of avian flu were transmitted by waterfowl migrating north through the state on the way to Canada, now it appears the disease is established in the local bird population.

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