DAVIESS CO. – According to the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, a commercial flock of turkeys in Daviess County tested presumptive positive for avian flu on Sunday. The site impacted has 11,394 turkeys and will be placed in quarantine.
The flock is the first in Daviess County to test positive for bird flu so far this year. This is the 15th flock in Indiana found to have bird flu, according to state officials. On Sept. 1, more than 260 birds in a hobby flock in Elkhart County tested positive for the virus.
With Sunday’s discovery, the state board will test birds in nearby flocks for the virus. Samples will be tested at Iowa’s national U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory for confirmation.
The 2022 bird flu outbreak is Indiana’s largest in years and the worst outbreak since 2015. In the past year, Indiana farmers have lost more than 400,000 birds to the avian flu.
According to state records, 171,733 commercial turkeys and 17,703 commercial ducks have been euthanized due to bird flu in 2022.
Bird flu outbreaks:
- Elkhart County: A small flock of chickens, ducks, and geese tests positive. The birds were euthanized.
- DuBois and Greene counties: Six commercial turkey flocks. 171,224 birds in the flocks were euthanized.
- Elkhart County: Three commercial duck flocks. 17,179 birds in the flocks were euthanized.
- Johnson County: Hobby flock of chickens, ducks, and peafowl. The remaining birds in the flock were euthanized.
- Allen County: Two small flocks of an undisclosed type of bird. The remaining birds in the flock were euthanized. An estimated 50 chickens and ducks are in a small, hobby operation in Fort Wayne. The birds were euthanized.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the risk to humans is low and that the strains of bird flu that are currently circulating in North America have no history of causing human illness.
