NEW YORK (AP) – A highly pathogenic bird flu has been detected in a nonprofit flock of birds in a backyard on Long Island, New York.
Specimens from the herd were tested at Cornell University’s Animal Health Diagnostics Center and validated at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Laboratories in Ames, Iowa. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the confirmation Saturday.
New York State officials have quarantined a site in Suffolk County, and officials said birds at the affected sites “will be deprived of populations to prevent the spread of disease.”
Also Saturday, Indiana officials said a strain of bird flu was found on the fourth commercial turkey farm in the southern part of the state.
The Indiana Health Board said a laboratory study of the second commercial herd of turkeys in Green County was found to be positive for the virus. Samples are tested at the U.S. Department of Agriculture lab in Iowa.
Another possible case was found about 5 miles away in Green County earlier in the week. Two previous cases have been detected in nearby Dubois County.
The virus has also been found in Kentucky and northern Virginia.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says recent findings are not of immediate concern to public health. No human infection has been reported in the United States
The U.S. Department of Agriculture noted in a press release that cooking poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit kills bacteria and viruses.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Gray news contributed to this report.