Serious strain of bird flu found in Minnesota turkey flock; danger to humans rated low

A strain of bird flu that's deadly to poultry has been found in a Minnesota commercial turkey flock but the risk to humans is low, state and federal officials announced Thursday.

It's the same highly pathogenic H5N2 strain of avian influenza that's been confirmed in backyard and wild birds in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, but it's the first appearance of the strain in the Mississippi flyway, said Dr. Bill Hartmann, Minnesota's state veterinarian.

The virus devastated a flock of 15,000 turkeys in western Minnesota's Pope County. Fewer than 100 were still alive by Thursday, Hartmann said. The flock has been quarantined and the remaining birds were being killed. No other commercial flocks are nearby, he said, but "backyard flocks" within a 10-kilometer area were being tested for the disease.

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