Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund

Two Clay County public health officials brought the Board of Commissioners up to speed on the status and dangers of the nationwide problem of Avian Influenza on Tuesday in Moorhead.
Since 2022, the bird flu (classified as H5N1) has resulted in the mandatory euthanizing of more than 148 million birds. The results have included higher egg prices at grocery stores as well as concerns of the disease spreading to humans.
Kathy McKay, public health administrator, explained to the board that the bird flu starts with wild birds, then infects poultry or cows. If left unchecked, it could then move on to domestic pets or humans.
As of now, McKay said, there have been 70 human cases in the United States (none in Minnesota), with one death as a result. These totals are comprised of 41 cases of cattle (973 dairy herds as of Feb. 21), 24 poultry farms/culling operations (51 jurisdictions with 166 million poultry affected as of Feb. 25), two other animal exposures and three unknown exposure sources. No human-to-human cases have been recorded.
More than 12,000 wild bird flu detections were recorded as of Feb. 25, and there are 16 states with outbreaks in dairy cow herds as well.
The current public health risk is classified as low.
The Center of Disease Control (CDC) is monitoring the issue with flu surveillance systems for a potential person-to-person spread, McKay said. “If that happens, that would be another pandemic,” she said. “We’re hoping that that isn’t the case.”
Lt. Gabe Tweten, Clay County emergency management director, also added that in Minnesota there are three organizations monitor such issues: the Board of Animal Health, the Minnesota Department of Health and the Department of Natural Resources keeps tabs on all aspects of detection and dangers resulting from animal infections.
Tweten said in Minnesota, the most recent case was from a backyard flock on Feb. 12 in Crow Wing County. Two larger flocks with infections were in Wadena County from a commercial turkey operation (275,000 birds) in January, and Dakota County with 79,000 birds.
“Minnesota is the largest turkey-producing state in the country,” Tweten said. “And back in 2022, when this most recent epidemic occurred, Kandiyohi County … was really the epicenter.”
Tweten said since 2022 he’s only been notified by state officials of bird infections twice in the county, and they were only in backyard flocks. The first report in 2022 included 24 infected birds, and the second from last year included 77 birds.
Tweten said overall, Minnesota has had the second-most infected birds with more than 9 million. California has had the most with 23 million out of 105 commercial flocks.
Avian influenza is an infectious viral disease that primarily affects birds. Disease can vary from mild to severe depending on the strain of the virus and species infected.
The virus often causes no apparent signs of illness in wild waterfowl, such as ducks and geese, although waterfowl can still carry the virus and sometimes do become sick and die. When avian influenza viruses spread to domestic poultry like chickens or turkeys it can cause large-scale outbreaks of serious disease.
Avian influenza viruses are influenza type A and are divided into two groups historically based on their ability to cause disease in poultry (now also based on certain genetic features of the viruses): Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and Low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI).
The HPAI pathogenicity viruses result in high death rates in some poultry species (up to 100 percent mortality within 48 hours). The LPAI viruses also cause outbreaks in poultry, but are not generally associated with severe disease, but some can become highly pathogenic in poultry.
Some avian influenza viruses also have been reported to cross the species barrier and cause disease or subclinical infections in humans and other mammals.