SIBLEY, Iowa, April 20 (UPI) -- A commercial chicken facility in Iowa is euthanizing 5.3 million hens after bird flu was detected.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service laboratories in Ames, Iowa, conducted testing on the animals after the Osceola County facility experienced an uptick in deaths among its flock.
The chickens tested positive for H5N2 avian influenza, which is considered high pathogenic in birds.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is rare for humans to contract the class of influenza in which H5N2 falls. Though no human infections of the virus has ever been recorded, the recent uptick in U.S. cases in chickens and turkeys could lead to a human infection, the CDC says.
All hens at the Iowa facility were quarantined and were scheduled to be euthanized, the Iowa Department of Agriculture said.
"People should avoid contact with sick/dead poultry or wildlife," the department said. "If contact occurs, wash your hands with soap and water and change clothing before having any contact with healthy domestic poultry and birds."
In March, the same strain of avian flu was responsible for killing 15,000 turkeys in Minnesota and sickened 40,000 turkeys in Arkansas.
