Poultry producers are encouraged to tighten biosecurity controls after state and federal officials found avian influenza, a highly pathogenic and deadly virus for poultry, in a commercial turkey flock in Osage County.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture announced the finding Monday. The presence of the virus was confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa.
"HPAI is known to be deadly in domesticated poultry," MDA said when announcing the case in a news release Monday. "Missouri Department of Agriculture veterinary officials have quarantined the affected premises, and birds on the property have been depopulated. The depopulated birds did not enter the food supply."
Christi Miller, MDA communications director, said the department doesn't release the name of the poultry producer for privacy reasons.
Samples were sent to the national laboratory after there was a sudden increase in the number of birds in the flock dying. Approximately 19,700 turkeys have been killed by the virus or by associated culling, according to the USDA.
The state is working with the USDA, University of Missouri Extension and county health departments to inform people around Osage County who own birds of the presence of the virus. MDA and the USDA are also assisting with farm operations, such as depopulation of birds.
"All poultry producers are encouraged to tighten their biosecurity practices around the farm," the MDA announcement said. "Producers should prevent contact between their birds and wild birds, and report sick birds or an unusual increase in death loss to a local veterinarian or the state veterinarian's office at the Missouri Department of Agriculture at (573) 751-3377."
Miller said it's difficult for the state to track how avian influenza spreads, but it's often linked to contact with wild waterfowl.
"The more people who know that the virus is in the area and can keep their birds contained and all those things, then the better we can try to get rid of this virus," she said.
Avian influenza doesn't present a food safety risk, according to the state agency, so poultry meat and eggs are safe to eat.
The record number of recent bird flu outbreaks don't present an immediate public health concern, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as one human case of avian influenza virus has been found in the country.
The recent detection in Osage County is part of a larger resurgence of the virus this year. Missouri had recorded 15 previous outbreaks affecting 10 other counties before Monday.
The CDC issued a warning in November that the country was approaching a record number of birds affected by avian influenza. The largest recorded outbreak affected 50.5 million birds in 21 states in 2015.
Forty-eight states have reported avian influenza in wild birds and 47 states have had poultry outbreaks this year, according to the CDC. The virus has affected more than 53 million birds this year, mostly poultry.
"We certainly had hoped that it was past our state and past the entire United States, but it just shows that this virus is still around and still in the area," Miller said. "We certainly had several cases of it across the state in the spring, and we just need for producers to continue to be vigilant."
MDA recommends maintaining distance, keeping farm operations clean and reducing potential contact with wildlife for biosecurity controls.