Bird flu found at 2nd Indiana duck farm

Avian influenza has been detected in a second northern Indiana duck farm, state officials said Tuesday.

Laboratory testing of a second commercial duck flock in Elkhart County came back as presumptively positive for the virus, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health said. The samples are being verified at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa.

The duck flock has an estimated 6,000 birds, the Indiana agency said.

The animal health board in an announcement did not say whether the ducks would be destroyed, as happened with six turkey farms in southern Indiana’s Dubois and Greene counties. The board also did not disclose whether the birds at the first duck farm would be destroyed when it announced the detection of bird flu there last week.

Pending test results should indicate if it is the same strain of the virus that has been found elsewhere and if it is highly pathogenic.

Animal Health Board staff have reached out to known poultry owners in the area to schedule testing of birds there, the board said.

So far this year, there have been cases of bird flu in 24 states affecting chickens, turkeys and ducks.

The agency said avian influenza does not present an immediate public health concern and no human cases of avian influenza viruses have been detected in the U.S.  (AP)