Bird flu outbreak spreads across northern Indiana farms

By Joe Ulery • Indiana News Service

Indiana agriculture officials said a new wave of bird flu has hit farms in the northern part of the state.

As the state works to contain the spread of the virus, 13 farms in Elkhart and LaGrange counties are now under quarantine.

Thomas Duszynski, clinical assistant professor of epidemiology in the Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Indianapolis, said the risk to people remains extremely low.

“The risk to humans is really, really low when we find it on these bird farms,” Duszynski explained. “Most of us aren’t coming in contact with these animals.”

Even so, state and federal agencies are monitoring nearby farms as a precaution. Officials with the Indiana State Board of Animal Health emphasized the virus does not pose a food safety risk and poultry and eggs remain safe to eat when properly cooked.

Duszynski noted the larger impact is likely to be economic, as farmers replace flocks lost to the virus.

“When we lose large flocks of populations due to bird flu, the farmer obviously has to replace those flocks in some way,” Duszynski pointed out. “There is a cost to doing that.”

The outbreak has affected more than 130,000 birds so far and wildlife officials continue to test wild species for signs of the H5N1 strain.