DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship continued to respond to probable cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in commercial poultry farms this week.
"A week ago we had three sites," said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey during an April 30 conference call with reporters. "Now we have seven counties and 17 sites impacted as of today."
On April 27, IDALS reported five probable cases of HPAI in commercial poultry farms in Osceola, O'Brien and Sioux counties. These joined three confirmed cases of the disease in Sac, O'Brien and Buena Vista counties announced earlier.
On April 29, IDALS responded to four probable cases of HPAI in commercial poultry farms in Buena Vista and Kossuth counties.
On April 30, IDALS responded to five additional cases in commercial poultry farms — three in Buena Vista County, and one each in Sioux and Clay counties.
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State officials have quarantined all the premises. The April 27 and 29 cases have been confirmed positive and all birds on the property will be euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease. If initial tests are confirmed for the April 30 cases, the birds on these properties will be euthanized as well.
These sites were announced April 27:
Osceola County 2 – Pullet farm with an estimated 250,000 birds.
O'Brien County 1 – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 240,000 birds.
O'Brien County 2 – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 98,000 birds.
Sioux County 1 – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 1.7 million birds.
Sioux County 2 – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 3.8 million birds.
Initial testing showed all five sites positive for H5 avian influenza, and additional confirmatory testing from the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames showed the farms are positive.
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The sites announced on April 29 were:
Buena Vista 2 – Turkey farm with an estimated 50,000 birds.
Buena Vista 3 – Turkey farm with an estimated 40,000 birds.
Buena Vista 4 – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 63,000 birds.
Kossuth County – Chicken breeder farm with an estimated 19,000 birds.
Initial testing showed all four sites positive for H5 avian influenza. Additional confirmatory testing from the APHIS NVSL showed the farms are positive.
These sites were announced April 30:
Buena Vista 5 – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 5.5 million birds that experienced increased mortality.
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Buena Vista 6 – Turkey farm that has experienced increased mortality. An estimate on the number of birds at the site is still pending.
Buena Vista 7 – Turkey farm that has experienced increased mortality. An estimate on the number of birds at the site is still pending.
Sioux 3 – Commercial laying operation with an estimated 84,000 birds that has experienced increased mortality.
Clay – Commercial laying operation that has experienced increased mortality. An estimate on thenumber of birds at the site is still pending.
Initial testing showed all five sites positive for H5 avian influenza. Additional confirmatory testing is pending for the April 30 sites from APHIS NVSL in Ames.
No food safety risk
Rembrandt Enterprises, one of the nation's largest egg producers, confirmed the Buena Vista 5 operation is its Rembrandt facility, according to the Des Moines Register. The company said its egg-laying facilities in Thompson and Renville, Minn., have not been affected.
The Center for Disease Control and Iowa Department of Public Health consider the risk to people from these HPAI H5N2 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low, Northey said. No human infections with the virus have ever been detected and there is no food safety risk for consumers.
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"I ate eggs today and in the coming days I'll have extra eggs and turkey in solidarity with the industry and the challenges it is going through," Northey said.
He urged all bird owners, whether commercial producers or backyard flock owners, to continue to practice good biosecurity, prevent contact between their birds and wild birds, and report sick birds or unusual bird deaths to state/federal officials, either through their state veterinarian at (515) 281-5321 or through USDA's toll-free number at 1-866-536-7593.
As IDALs receives final confirmation, updated disease information will be posted to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship's website at www.iowaagriculture.gov/avianinfluenza.asp.
Congressional ag leadership ask for emergency assistance
On April 29 U.S. Senate and House Agriculture Committee leadership called for emergency assistance to be released to poultry and egg producers whose flocks suffered losses due to HPAI H5N2 infections.
Agriculture Committee Chairmen Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and ranking members Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget emphasizing the urgency in which the Secretary of Agriculture be approved to utilize his emergency Commodity Credit Corporation transfer authority to help mitigate the spread of HPAI and limit the economic damages it causes to poultry farmers whose flocks become infected with the disease.
"We urge you to ensure that your agency takes all necessary steps to guarantee that it not impede USDA's immediate response to this emergency," the letter stated.
The letter said that the virus has affected nearly 100 farms in over a dozen states requiring the depopulation of approximately eight million birds in agriculture production across the country.
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Avian influenza not suspected in waterfowl deaths along Mississippi
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced April 29 that it is awaiting test results to determine the cause of death for American coot and lesser scaup collected two weeks ago from Pools 9 and 10 of the Mississippi River. The waterfowl are being tested at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. Officials do not suspect avian influenza.
Since last week, waterfowl by the hundreds have been found dead in the Mississippi River pools 7, 8, 9, and 10. The vast majority killed were American coot and lesser scaup, but some bluewing teal and canvasbacks were also found.
This is the sixth time since 2002 that waterfowl die offs have been documented on the Upper Mississippi River and each time prior, trematodes were responsible. Trematodes are a parasitic flatworm that spends part of its life stage inside snails. Waterfowl die from trematodes each year but in years when snail populations are high, mortality rates of snail eaters – American coots and lesser scaup at this location – increase as well.
Waterfowl have succumbed to trematodes in Pools 7, 8 or 9 on the Mississippi River in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2012, and periodically in other lakes and streams around the Midwest. The invasive faucet snail is an intermediate host for three types of trematodes and is likely the source of the current outbreak.
