GREENE CO. – State officials say a strain of avian flu has been found at a fourth commercial turkey farm in Greene County.
Laboratory testing of a second commercial flock of turkeys in Greene County has come back as presumptively positive for the virus, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health said. The samples are being verified at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa.
This is the second farm in Greene County to test positive for the virus. Two previous cases were found in adjacent Dubois County.
Officials have begun euthanizing the 15,200 birds at the latest farm to prevent the spread of the disease. About 115,000 birds in total have been killed at the farms to prevent the flu from spreading.
A 6.2-mile circle has been established around the latest farm in Greene County. Thirteen commercial poultry flocks within the new control area are under quarantine and will be tested regularly, the board said.
Animal Health Board staff have reached out to known hobby/backyard poultry owners in the new control area to schedule testing of birds there, it said.
The agency said avian influenza does not present an immediate public health concern and no human cases of avian influenza viruses have been detected in the U.S.
The turkey infections are the first confirmation of highly pathogenic bird flu in commercial poultry in the U.S. since 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said.
A January 2016 outbreak of bird flu in Dubois County affected 11 poultry farms, resulting in the loss of more than 400,000 birds, the Animal Health Board said.
Indiana ranks third nationally in turkey production.
