Three more cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza were confirmed by the USDA in a three-day period. All were the H5N2 virus. The Wyoming case involved an ailing wild Canada goose from Laramie County. “This is the first finding of the Eurasian lineage avian influenza viruses in wild birds in the Central flyway,” said department. In the two days following the discovery of the sick goose, H5N2 infections were found in commercial turkey flocks in Minnesota – in a flock of 39,000 in Stearns County and another of 66,000 in Lac Qui Parle County. Stearns County is roughly 65 miles northwest of Minneapolis and Lac Qui Parle County, near the South Dakota border, is 160 miles west of Minneapolis.
The USDA says the risk to people of contracting illness from the H5N2 avian virus is considered low. No human cases have been reported. One other case of bird flu has been reported in Minnesota, on March 4 in Pope County in the western part of the state.
Minnesota is the No. 1 turkey-producing state in the country. Its farms raise nearly one-fifth of all U.S. turkeys.