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WILLMAR — New confirmations of avian flu in Minnesota bring the number of infection sites to 34, including the sixth site in Kandiyohi County and the first reported site in Yellow Medicine County.
According to the state Board of Animal Health, H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza was confirmed Tuesday and announced Wednesday in five additional commercial poultry operations, and one backyard producer of 126 birds in Benton County.
Three of the additional sites are in Morrison County: a flock of 45,000 meat turkeys, a flock of 43,286 broiler chickens and a flock of 214,277 table egg layers. That county now has seven sites of infection and more than half a million birds affected.
Yellow Medicine County’s first infection site is listed as 50,000 birds at a poultry slaughter operation.
The newest Kandiyohi County site is 38,000 meat turkeys. All six sites reported in Kandiyohi County have been commercial operations of either meat turkeys or breeder hens, totaling more than 200,000 birds affected.
The Board of Animal Health tally as of Wednesday shows 1,764,353 affected birds statewide. The board’s web page devoted to avian flu response in the state — bah.state.mn.us/hpai — is updated at noon each weekday with the information that is known about infection sites. Data from previous days also may be updated by quality control staff if more accurate information is gathered later.
The first Minnesota cases of the disease — which is fatal to domestic poultry — were confirmed March 25.
A total of 16 counties in the state have been impacted so far. The other affected counties are Becker, Big Stone, Dodge, Lac qui Parle, LeSueur, Meeker, Mower, Otter Tail, Renville, Stearns, Swift and Waseca.
