Explosion Of Fujian H5N2 In Midwest Turkey Farms Confirmed
Recombinomics Commentary
April 11, 2015 15:15

The above April 10 APHIS list cites the reported farm H5N2 outbreaks since March 4.  There are six new farms, which include four turkey farms in Minnesota.  Three of the farms are in counties (Cottonwood, Lyon, and Watonwan) that were banned by a number of counties on April 9, which corresponds to their confirmation date, but were not publicly cited until April 10.  This delay led to a list of banned counties that had not yet been announced.  In addition a fourth farm was confirmed, but that farm was the fourth in Stearns County, which had already been banned.

In addition to the four new farms in Minnesota, two more turkey farms were cited from South Dakota (in McCook and McPherson counties), which were confirmed on April 10 (and raised the South Dakota turkey farm total to four).

However, media reports cite H5N2 confirmation of a turkey farm in North Dakota (in Dickey County), signaling additional delays in reporting H5N2 confirmed turkey farms.

The farms in three new counties in Minnesota, as well as the new locations in South Dakota and North Dakota (see H5N2 map) confirm an explosion of H5N2 confirmed turkey farms in the Midwest, which are linked to waves of migrating birds.

The latest UDSA update including detection of Fujian clade 2.3.4.4 H5 in a lesser snow goose, a species which had not been previously confirmed, but may be associated with the latest wave of cases in the upper Midwest.  The confirmed snow goose was in Nodaway County, Missouri.  The sample was collected on March 16, 2015 which matches in time and space the wave of H5N2 outbreaks in Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas, as seen in the above list.

This cluster is also linked in time and space to an H5N2 confirmed Canadia goose, which died in Lyon County, Kansas as well as an H5N2 confirmed captive falcon, which died in St Louis County, Missouri after eating a wild bird from Jefferson County, Missouri.

The wild bird confirmations associated with the wave of H5N2 outbreaks in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas has not been confirmed in the wave in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, but the only reported wild surveillance involved fecal samples linked to resident ducks in Minnesota collected after the first outbreak in Minnesota in Pope County.

However, only 2 of 148 samples were influenza A positives, suggesting significant degradation.

Enhanced surveillance using fresh fecal samples of hunter killed birds which were 10-20% influenza A positive would be useful.

Although Iowa has announced planned testing of 150 hunter killed snow geese, and other Midwestern states are likely to follow suit, no results have been announced, other than the recent confirmation in Kansas, but details of that sampling have not been released.

Migration in April is active in the upper Midwest, so more H5N2 confirmations in the US and Canada are expected.

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