Some more poultry farms in Iowa are reported to have been hit by the deadly virus H5N2, this report is released just four days after the Governor Terry Branstad has officially declared state of emergency in Iowa.
Iowa’s Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship reported that 2.8 million chickens in a single egg production facility in Wright County are affected by bird flu. There are other three turkey farms which are also affected by bird flu.
The outbreak began earlier this year and cost Iowa 19 million chickens. Many activists and farm workers have opposed the culling of the birds but scientists insist that this measure in necessary to stop the spreading of the disease any faster.
Many preventive measures are implemented across the United States and Canada but still bird flu is contaminating new localities.
Scientists have no clear explanation to this, but they believe that the disease may spread through smaller rodents, birds, feathers or by infected dust.
Farm workers are provided with antivirals as a precaution as the bird flu strain is taking lives of millions of chickens and turkeys.
US public health officials are determined that the disease will not spread from one human to another, but the main concern is that the workers who are exposed to the strain are at a high risk of contracting the disease.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention representative said that that human vaccine has been developed and will be given to at least 300 people who have come in direct contact with the livestock affected with bird flu.
CDC is recommending the farm workers to take antivirals but only half of them have taken it.
Some farm workers believe that antivirals are against their religion, while others think that they are not a high risk of contracting the virus.
Official’s main concern is that the disease may spread and affect the country’s wild bird which would be catastrophic.
The number of birds affected by the strain is beyond the 7 million mark.
The efforts taken by the officials to control the spread of H5N1 virus have no results as new cases are reported regularly.
The strain is moving towards north direction, but the officials exactly don’t know why it is moving northward.