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Why Indiana just killed over 400,000 birds — and might not be done yet

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Uninfected chickens at a poultry farm in Pennsylvania. USDA/Flickr

An outbreak of bird flu — strain H5N2 — devastated the US poultry industry last year, causing the death of 48 million chickens and turkeys. 

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Now a new strain, H7N8, is sweeping chicken and turkey farms in Indiana.

The US Department of Agriculture has stepped in to contain the avian flu virus from spreading any further, ordering more than 400,000 chickens and turkeys to be euthanized at 10 different farms, the Associated Press reported. Officials try to kill infected birds within 24 hours of diagnosis. 

Killing the birds is the best way to stop the outbreak, since there's no vaccine against the H7N8 virus. Most foreign trade partners won't import vaccinated poultry anyway, however, since the test for the flu virus makes it look like birds that have received a vaccine are infected. 

Even after their livestock are killed, farms have to be placed under quarantine for weeks. Last year's H5N2 outbreak cost the poultry industry $3.3 billion, Reuters reported. 

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The new H7N8 virus has never infected any humans, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All poultry is disinfected and inspected before it goes to market, too, so consumers shouldn't worry about buying chicken or turkey. 

Experts don't know where this new strain originated yet, though they suspect it mutated from a milder form into a more virulent version on one of the infected farms in Indiana. Mild bird flu gives poultry "ruffled feathers and a drop in egg production," the CDC says, while this highly pathogenic version can spread quickly and kill infected birds.

turkeys farm usda
Turkeys. USDA/Flickr

Last year's outbreak was a sort of wake up call, and the USDA and farmers have been upping their biosecurity efforts ever since. Everyone hopes this outbreak doesn't turn into what happened in 2015. But even after euthanizing hundreds of thousands of birds, farms are not yet in the clear.

"If the initial infection did come from wild birds, many of whom may be carrying H7N8 viruses, we can expect more cases of H7N8 infection of poultry," Dr. Jürgen Richt, director of the Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases at Kansas State University, said in a statement. "Sampling of wild birds in the affected areas in Indiana will most likely help in determining the source of the infection."

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That means that as farmers try to stamp out the virus before it becomes more virulent or infects more of their flock, additional birds may be culled as the year goes on.

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