Avian influenza was identified at a sixth turkey farm in southern Indiana, and state officials said on Tuesday the 16,500 birds on the farm would be killed while the state waits for confirmation of the viral disease. Meanwhile, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said 1.6 million turkeys, chickens and other fowl have died as part of this year’s outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
A poultry farm in New Castle County, Delaware, accounted for 1.2 million of the culled birds, said the USDA. Indiana has the largest number of outbreaks: five confirmed cases of “high path” avian influenza and the new case in Dubois County.
“This is considered a presumptive-positive case and samples are being verified at the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa,” said the Board of Animal Health in an email. “This is the sixth known farm (known as Dubois4) in Indiana to be diagnosed with avian influenza. Depopulation efforts are underway on the premises, which houses 16,500 birds.”
Fifty million birds, mostly egg-laying hens and turkeys, died in an HPAI epidemic in 2014 and 2015 that drove up egg prices in grocery stores.