According to new reports, a bird flu outbreak has reached a massive egg-laying operation in Ohio after leading to the deaths of no less than 43 million chickens and turkeys all over the United States.
In order to try their best and limit the devastating spread, farmers have had no choice but to euthanize 27 million of these birds, the rest being killed by the disease.
Now, state and federal agriculture officials shared earlier this week that the outbreak has reached a giant egg laying operation in Ohio, where another 3 million chickens were also destroyed to try and stop the spread, as per the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This has been confirmed in Ohio’s Defiance County where the farm has decided to euthanize all of their fowl, shares the state’s veterinarian, Dennis Summers.
It looks like, after a lull of a few months, the highly pathological disease is now back in the Midwest with millions of cases in Minnesota, Indiana, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
As for western states, there have been a few detected cases over the summer as well but far less than in the Midwest.
What should you know about this disease?
Bird flu is usually carried by migrating waterfowl like wild ducks and geese, shares Summers.
While it’s obviously highly contagious for birds, it only rarely affects humans, the most in danger being those who work directly with the diseased animals, such as the farm workers, of course.
Not to mention that the USDA keeps poultry resulting from diseased flocks away from people’s food supply to avoid a higher number of human infections.
At the same time, however, thanks to the huge losses suffered by egg and poultry farms, the outbreak contributed to a spike in egg and meat prices earlier this year.
While the prices seemed to be waning back in June, officials warn that since the outbreak is back with a vengeance, another surge is expected this fall.
