ST PAUL — The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division (HSEM) activated the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) to coordinate the state’s ongoing response to avian influenza. HSEM will coordinate resource needs with several state agencies including the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Additional HPAI cases in Minnesota
The Minnesota Board of Animal Health today announced two presumptive positive flocks. The following Minnesota counties are affected:
- Kandiyohi – 26th detection (turkeys, flock size pending)
- Meeker – 8th detection (turkeys, flock size pending)
Current Situation
Total number of farms – 72
Total number of counties – 19
Farms by County/Number of Flocks
Total number of birds affected in Minnesota – 3,974,832 (not including pending flocks)
| Clay: 1 |
Nobles: 1 |
Stearns: 14 |
|---|
| Cottonwood: 2 |
Otter Tail: 3 |
Steele: 1 |
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| Kandiyohi: 26 |
Pipestone: 1 |
Swift: 3 |
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| Lac Qui Parle: 1 |
Pope: 1 |
Wadena: 1 |
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| Le Sueur: 1 |
Redwood: 4 |
Watonwan: 1 |
|---|
All affected farms remain under quarantine.
Visit the
USDA's website for information on all HPAI findings in the United States.
To date, animal health officials have completed the following response zone activities:
Appraisals have been approved for 70 of the affected premises
Birds on 64 of the affected farms have been euthanized.
Sampled 599 backyard flocks falling within the control areas of affected farms.
Minnesota Board of Animal Health Provides Photographs of HPAI Response Activities
The Board has a collection of photographs documenting HPAI response efforts in Minnesota. Subject matter included in the collection:
- Animal health officials donning and doffing personal protective equipment
- Animal health officials collecting samples from backyard flocks for avian influenza testing
- Animal health officials preparing to drive roads to look for commercial poultry farms and backyard flocks that are within a control area
- Commercial poultry operations and backyard flocks in Minnesota
No Public Health Risk
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reports that no human infections with this strain of the virus (H5N2) have been detected in Minnesota or elsewhere in the U.S. However, in some cases certain HPAI H5 viruses can infect people and it is important to prevent infections.
In general, avian influenza viruses are spread to people through direct contact with infected birds or their environments, including contaminated bedding, feed or water. Person-to-person spread of avian influenza viruses is rare and limited.
This is not a public health risk or a food safety risk. The potential risk is for those who have direct contact with infected birds.
Poultry Workers
MDH is monitoring the health of workers, who have had contact with infected poultry, and providing guidance on infection control, the use of personal protective equipment, and providing support for any other health-related aspects of response.
- People who had close, unprotected contact with infected flocks are recommended to receive an antiviral drug called Tamiflu. MDH does not issue the drug directly. Rather, MDH facilitates getting the prescription for the workers by working with the company occupational health departments or the health care providers for those individuals.
- Workers are then contacted daily for 10 days and monitored for development of respiratory symptoms.
- As of today, MDH has completed follow-up contacts for 59 flocks.
- MDH is currently monitoring 89 poultry personnel for potential symptoms of infection, such as development of an eye infection or respiratory symptoms.
- The MDH 10-day monitoring period has been completed for 103 people associated with 30 flocks; no infections with this virus were detected.
DNR continues surveillance of wild birds
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced April 30 the discovery the first wild bird to test positive for the H5N2 virus. The positive bird was a Cooper’s hawk, one of 29 wild bird carcasses collected by the agency from across the state. No other wild bird carcasses have tested positive.
The agency is continuing its waterfowl surveillance and has now exceeded its goal of collecting 3,000 wild waterfowl samples. More than 2,200 waterfowl test results have been received and none have tested positive for H5N2. The DNR is also testing hunter-harvested wild turkeys from Swift, Stearns, Pope, Meeker and Kandiyohi counties. Hunters have submitted 37 birds and 18 so far have tested negative; results are pending on the remaining samples. The goal is to collect 300 samples from hunter-killed turkeys by the end of the wild-turkey hunting season on May 28.
