Following our report last year warning of a new strain of bird flu in US , the issue appears to be accelerating with the US now on high alert. US vets are testing poultry across the country in a race to uncover infections and try to contain the outbreak; although the ability to do so is far from certain, given it is a new strain. A study from The Centre for Animal Health and Food Safety says farmers tilling fields near poultry barns may have unwittingly helped spread the disease, which killed more than 48 million birds in Minnesota last year . the University of Minnesota says soil in those fields may have been contaminated with droppings from migrating birds believed to be a source of the highly pathogenic H5N2 virus; the virus can survive in cold soil temperatures and tilling could have created airborne particles; vets are therefore also testing faeces from wild birds. Rendering trucks used to dispose of poultry carcasses are another factor that may have helped spread the disease.
Following our report a few weeks ago warning of a new strain of bird flu in Indiana, the issue appears to be accelerating with the US now on high alert. US vets are testing poultry across the country in a race to uncover infections and try to contain the outbreak; although the ability to do so is far from certain, given it is a new strain. A study from the University of Minnesota says farmers tilling fields near poultry barns may have unwittingly helped spread the disease, which killed nine million birds in Minnesota last year. The Centre for Animal Health and Food Safety says soil in those fields may have been contaminated with droppings from migrating birds believed to be a source of the highly pathogenic H5N2 virus; the virus can survive in cold soil temperatures and tilling could have created airborne particles; vets are therefore also testing faeces from wild birds. Rendering trucks used to dispose of poultry carcasses are another factor that may have helped spread the disease.