As the virus spreads across the United States, a new incidence of avian flu has been identified.
Last Monday, for the first time since 2017, the deadly H7N9 strain was found on a chicken farm in Noxubee, Mississippi.
On March 13, the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) reported that 47,654 commercial broiler-breeder hens were infected.
The State of Mississippi Board of Animal Health said in a news statement on March 12 that tests conducted on flock samples at the Mississippi Veterinary Research & Diagnostic Laboratory revealed that the samples tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
To stop the spread, the property’s birds have been reduced and the impacted region has been placed under quarantine.
The Mississippi board claims that none of the flock’s birds have made their way into the food chain.
The identification prompted a thorough epidemiological study and increased monitoring by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in collaboration with state animal health and wildlife authorities, according to WOAH’s report.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has caused the most damage to poultry in recent years, as well as the death of one person, although H7N9 has had a “high death rate for humans worldwide,” according to Reuters.
While H7N9 has had a “high death rate for humans worldwide,” Reuters reports that the H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed one person and caused the greatest harm to poultry in recent years.
Although cases of bird flu have continued to rise in recent weeks, WebMD CEO and practicing physician Dr. John Whyte recently told Fox News Digital that there shouldn’t be too much concern.
“You definitely want to cook poultry, and you definitely want to make sure you cook eggs, typically at an internal temperature of about 165 degrees,” he said. “But you don’t want to be eating runny eggs right now.”
“Of all the things that I’m concerned about right now in terms of flu, in terms of other respiratory viruses, in terms of outbreaks of measles, I’m aware of bird flu, and I think people should be aware of it, but I’m not overly concerned about it.”