Backyard flocks within a 10-kilometer radius of an Indiana turkey flock where highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected are going through a second round of tests for the virus, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (ISBAH) announced.
Veterinary officials have been actively monitoring a 10-kilometer area around a flock of turkeys in Dubois County, Indiana, as well as an expanded 10-kilometer control zone since the highly pathogenic H7N8 avian influenza was confirmed there on January 15. Surveillance of commercial flocks found the presence of the virus at nine additional farms. Of those eight were affected by low pathogenic H7N8 avian influenza, while tests on the other flock to determine if it was a highly pathogenic or low pathogenic strain were inconclusive.
According to ISBAH, all commercial poultry flocks within the initial 10-kilometer control area have already been tested at least twice, while 105 backyard flocks within the initial control area have been tested once for avian influenza, with none of the tests from the backyard flocks coming back positive. The second round of tests in backyard flocks is scheduled for this week.
All commercial flocks where avian influenza has been detected in Indiana, as well as a nearby layer farm of 156,000 layers have been depopulated.
The state agency said that the control area will on February 22, provided no new cases of avian influenza are detected within that area. February 22 marks the end of a 21-day follow period prescribed by the USDA. Once the control area and surveillance zones are released, restrictions on movements of poultry and poultry products on all non-infected sites will be lifted, but quarantines will continue on the infected sites until final cleanup requirements are met.
