Three commercial turkey farms in South Dakota have confirmed cases of bird flu in the past couple weeks. According to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the total number affected is over 130,000.
However, one state official said it doesn’t appear the disease is spreading from flock to flock.
The state has seen three separate reports in commercial turkey farms in Faulk, Beadle and McPherson counties. These are the first reports of bird flu in South Dakota since May.
Dr. Beth Thompson is the State Veterinarian. She said the way the virus tends to spread has changed in recent years.
“These are individual introductions of avian influenza virus into these barns. We did go through 2015 where the virus and in at least 50% of the cases if not more, the virus was being spread from site to site. But that’s really, you know, our farmers have stepped up their biosecurity," Thompson said. "So, individual introductions means that migratory waterfowl and other birds, other mammals are actually carrying this virus into the barns or into an area where it can get into the barn.”
She added figuring out how the virus entered a barn in the first place is difficult. As for biosecurity, Dr. Thompson said farmers have improved mitigating who and what enters any barn with birds.
She called mitigation a “three-legged stool” between the state and federal government and the farmer working together to help prevent further spreading of the virus.
On the farmer's end, when they notice a high death loss in a barn or elswhere, they'll send samples to the SDSU diagnostic lab to test for bird flu detections. Dr. Thompson said if bird flu is present, then the federal government acts as the "checkbook" to pay for indemnity for a farmer's birds in addition to other costs to cleaning, disinfecting and disposal for farmers. The state, on the other hand, provides people to help the farmer through the depopulation process.
Dr. Thompson said it’s important for the public to understand that when the disease does affect commercial flocks, there is no threat to what comes to the kitchen table.
“The food supply remains safe. We talk about any type of poultry, whether it’s turkey or chicken or we’re talking about the eggs, there are all sorts of safety processes and oversight in place so that the food supply remains safe," she said. "None of these birds that have detections of bird flu ever come close to entering the food supply.”
She said as fall migration season begins, cases are something to keep an eye on. Migrating birds carrying bird flu can further spread the disease. Currently, South Dakota and North Dakota are the only states to have any bird flu presence in commercial flocks in the past 30 days. However, New York, California and Georgia have confirmed bird flu in backyard flocks during the same time frame.
