Millions of chickens, turkeys and ducks have succumbed to the avian flu across the U.S. over the last few months, and officials say it''s the worst outbreak of the virus in American history.
The New York Times reports that over 33 million birds have died in more than a dozen states since Decembereither as a direct result of the flu or because of preemptive euthanasia.
Particularly hard hit are the country''s poultry farms, specifically in Iowa, where "more than 40 percent of its egg-laying hens are dead or dying." One in every five eggs consumed in America comes out of Iowa, the New York Times says.
However, U.S. agriculture officials maintain that the outbreak doesn''t pose a threat to humans.
According to multiple food inspection agencies in North America, the current die-off was triggered in early December when poultry farms in British Columbia, Canada, reported incidents of the H5N2 flu strain. By Dec. 19, the virus, albeit a different strain (H5N8), made its first reported appearance in the U.S.
In the months following December''s initial outbreak, millions of birds died, multiple countries banned poultry imports from North America and three states declared a state of emergency, including Iowa.
WANE reports that Indiana saw its first case of the flu this month, specifically from a strain that first popped up in California, which shows the tremendous ability for the virus to travel.
"This whole event, as far as nationally, is really unprecedented," said Denise Derrer, Indiana State Board of Animal Health spokesperson. "Nobody expected this to play out like it has."
Indiana is third to Iowa when it comes to pumping out chicken eggs, but the Hoosier State leads the nation in duck production, WANE says.
As the Associated Press reports, farms euthanize all poultry on a farm under any circumstances when the flu is detected, and typically farm owners use carbon dioxide gas to kill off hens.
"It''s not pleasant work, but we''ve had great cooperation with our industry and we hope they can make it through this," said South Dakota State Veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven. "We''ll proceed as best we can and continue to hope for the end of this plague."
Some officials were hoping that an influx of warmer weather to the Midwest would halt the spread of the flu, but as of May, the virus continues to leap across state lines and infect flocks.
"Since Monday, we''ve had 10 to 12 more infected flocks added across the country. The virus continues to spread, more so in other states. We thought with warmer weather coming, the flu doesn''t like that, and that it will die out, but we can''t say we''re in a place yet where that''s happening," Derrer said.