The first case of H5N2 avian influenza in the U.S. South this year was confirmed on a turkey farm in northwestern Arkansas. A flock of 40,020 turkeys in Boone County, about 140 miles north-northwest of Little Rock, was hit. The USDA said the farm “is located within the Mississippi flyway where this strain of avian influenza has been previously identified.” The other cases in the Mississippi flyway, reported in the past week, are in two turkey flocks in Missouri — one in the central part of the state and the other in the southwestern corner — and in western Minnesota. In early winter, H5N2 outbreaks were reported in the Pacific Northwest. The virus causes a high mortality rate among poultry. No human infections from virus have been reported.
Arkansas is the No. 3 poultry-producing state in the country. DTN quoted the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association as saying there were no signs of farm-to-farm transmission of the virus.