“While the avian influenza outbreak does not pose a risk to humans, we are taking the matter very seriously and believe declaring a state of emergency is the best way to make all resources available,” said Branstad. “Even before the virus began in Iowa, our office was monitoring the outbreak in other states. We’ll continue our work – as we’ve been doing since the first outbreak in Buena Vista County – in hopes of stopping the virus’ aggressive spread throughout Iowa.”
At time of press, 21 sites spanning 10 Iowa counties have cases that are either presumed positives or confirmed positives. The counties include: Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Kossuth, Madison, O’Brien, Osceola, Pocahontas, Sac and Sioux.
“Iowa’s poultry farms are an important part of our state’s agriculture industry. This disease is having a far reaching impact and, unfortunately, it has continued to spread. We have seen tremendous support and coordination from state, federal and local partners and this emergency declaration will allow the state to continue to respond aggressively to this disease outbreak,” Northey said.
In addition, Gov. Branstad today declared a state of emergency due to the outbreak. The proclamation is effective immediately and will continue until May 31, 2015, at 11:59 p.m., unless sooner terminated or extended by the governor.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is responding to four probable cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry farms in Sac, Pocahontas, Cherokee and Madison counties. These four new cases would join seventeen cases of the disease in Iowa that were previously announced. State officials have quarantined the premises and once the presence of the disease is confirmed, all birds on the property will be humanely euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease.
Additionally, Congressman Steve King released the following statement after the Governor announced the state of emergency:
“The avian bird flu has drastically affected the 4th District of Iowa with the loss of 15 million birds,” said King. “All but one of the reported incidences in Iowa are in my district – the number one egg producing district in America.
I have personally been on site to see firsthand the damage done to our poultry producers and continue to be on daily conference calls with officials to figure out how we can best combat this outbreak. I encourage everyone to take this situation very seriously and use the necessary and recommend precautions. Although available federal resources appear to be adequate even for the massive scope of this disaster, I have been pushing hard every day for more and better methods for disposal and cleanup.
If we are to save and rebuild a very important Iowa industry, there remains two very big questions. How is it spread and under what conditions? How can we prevent this from happening again?
This disease has spread quickly, however there is no known event that H5N2 has ever mutated into a version that could affect humans.
I am glad to see that Governor Branstad declared a state of emergency in Iowa today. We will do whatever it takes to help contain this disease and allow our producers to get back on their feet again.”
