ST. PAUL-The Minnesota turkey and chicken industries have received its first good news since an avian flu outbreak began March 5.
State and federal officials reported Wednesday that no new flocks were reported infected and they were not awaiting test results from any suspected sick birds. The weather forecast for most of the state calls for highs in the upper 60s to the 70s after a short dip into the 50s in some areas later this week. Vaccines could become available to prevent the flu.
It was the first report since April 15 that did not include new flu cases.
"That is something we are hoping is a trend," State Veterinarian Dr. Bill Hartmann told reporters.
Despite the good news, the hard fact remains that 5.6 million Minnesota turkeys and chickens have died from the virus or are being euthanized to prevent its spread since the first Minnesota flock was reported infected on March 5. Eighty-two Minnesota farms in 21 counties are affected.
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The optimism comes on the heels of the Jennie-O Turkey Store announcement that it will lay off workers at its Faribault turkey processing plant. There are fears that more turkey-related businesses will be affected as turkeys become scarce because entire flocks are being eliminated for a half year.
Lou Cornicelli of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said only one wild bird, a Cooper's hawk, has tested positive for H5N2. While that in itself is good news, it also has hampered experts' efforts to determine how the virus is reaching large commercial turkey barns.
Migrating ducks and geese are suspected of spreading the virus, but no tests back that up.
Cornicelli said tests of more than 3,000 samples of wild waterfowl feces came back with no H5N2 positive results. The same is true for wild turkeys that hunters have turned in.
The warmer weather should be good news, Hartmann said, although he could not say why flocks in warmer climates south of Minnesota were reported infected Wednesday. Generally, temperatures staying for several days at or above 65 are considered inhospitable to flu viruses.
Hartmann said scientists are looking into a vaccine that could prevent poultry from getting the flu, but more work is needed before doing that. He said he did not know how it would be administered to birds.
