Avian flu found at fourth Lancaster County facility

Avian flu has been confirmed at a fourth location in Lancaster County.The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the positive case was found Friday in a commercial broiler production facility. Broiler refers to birds raised for meat production.More than 50,000 chickens at the facility were euthanized.Nearly 3.5 million birds were destroyed at the other three farms where avian flu was found.The first case was discovered at Kreider Farms in East Donegal Township.A control zone has been set up in a six-mile radius around that farm.More than 100 poultry farms in the control zone are required to increase cleaning and disinfecting, and testing is conducted regularly.All of the locations where avian flu has been found have been in the control zone.”If this was outside that zone, I would be very concerned. But it’s inside, so that tells me that the testing we’re doing, the control mechanisms we’ve had, the biosecurity, the permitting, all of that is working,” Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said.While mitigation efforts may help contain the spread, Redding said warmer weather will also be a help.”The virus doesn’t like hot weather, so the sooner we get there and stay there is also going to help us,” he said.Redding said that even if the virus is contained, it’s still impacting the poultry industry – a $7.1 billion business in Pennsylvania.

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