ST. LOUIS (AP) – A strain of bird flu responsible for the deaths of millions of chickens and turkeys in several states is spreading across Missouri.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture confirmed Wednesday that a backyard flock of mixed poultry in northeast Missouri’s Lewis County has been found to be infected with a strain of HFN2 flu.
The department says the flock of roughly 130 birds have been quarantined and destroyed.
The bird flu virus is carried by wild waterfowl that aren’t sickened by it, and human infections are unlikely. Officials have said the flu is not a threat to the food supply.
Missouri last month lifted quarantines involving a turkey farm in central Missouri’s Moniteau County and another in southwestern Missouri’s Jasper County. Roughly 51,000 birds were destroyed as part of those outbreaks.
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