Bird flu outbreak in South Dakota: 36,000 turkeys affected

An outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been detected at a commercial turkey facility in Beadle County, South Dakota. The facility hosts around 36,000 turkeys. The outbreak, confirmed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the sixteenth recorded in Beadle County since 2022, with over 800,000 birds affected. South Dakota has been severely hit by the disease, recording the second-highest number of cases in the US since the global spread of HPAI began in February 2022.
The economic consequences of the epidemic have been massive, leading to high costs for poultry products. However, the impact of bird flu is not merely economic. The virus is a potential threat to human health, although the risk remains low at present. In the US, at least 70 people have been infected, mostly farmers and veterinarians exposed to ill birds or cattle. In January, one person died in Louisiana from the virus after being exposed to sick birds. Efforts to control the spread of HPAI are ongoing, and scientists are studying the virus to understand its potential to cause a human pandemic and develop ways to contain it.