By
Associated Press
An outbreak of bird flu that has killed 43 million chickens and turkeys this year across the United States has been detected on a giant egg farm in Ohio, state and federal agriculture officials said Wednesday.
The confirmed case over the weekend in Defiance County, Ohio has affected some 3 million chickens, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The egg-laying farm has begun euthanizing its entire flock, said state veterinarian Dennis Summers.
The highly pathogenic disease has returned to the plains of the Midwest sooner than authorities expected after a months-long hiatus, with cases in Indiana, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin in the last week.
Several cases have also been detected in western states during the summer.
Chickens walk through a fenced-in yard at an organic farm near Waukon, Iowa, on Oct. 21, 2015. AP
It is usually spread by migratory waterfowl, such as geese and ducks, Summers added.
It only occasionally affects humans, such as
farm workers,
and the USDA keeps poultry from infected flocks out of the food supply.
[They detect the first case of bird flu in humans in the United States: it is a Colorado prisoner who worked on a farm]
The outbreak that earlier this year contributed to a surge in egg and meat prices appeared to be easing in June, but authorities then warned that another spike could follow this fall.
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In a statement, the USDA assured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the recent detections of bird flu
do not pose an immediate public health concern.
The Department of Agriculture assured that products from any affected hatchery are prohibited from entering the food system and reminded that it is recommended to
properly handle and cook all poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
