Washington state said earlier this week that it has established a third poultry quarantine zone after state officials discovered that a flock of about 100 birds in Okanogan County was infected with the avian influenza virus. The Washington State Department of Agriculture adopted an emergency rule to establish the new quarantine area, which encompasses a six-mile area in Oroville, Washington, state officials said. State officials are conducting additional tests to identify the specific flue strain that infected the flock.
The quarantine restricts the movement of all eggs, poultry or poultry products from leaving that area. The state had set up the first emergency quarantine in the area on January 29, after a flock of nearly 5,000 birds tested positive for the H5N2 influenza strain. Another quarantine zone was also set up in Clallam County, in response to a separate infected flock.The H5N2 strain has also been found in backyard chicken flocks in Idaho
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said at the time the virus did not pose a health risk to the public, and birds and other poultry products from such infected flocks would not enter the food system.
A different strain, H5N8, forced a temporary quarantine of a Foster Farms turkey ranch in California last month. The birds were culled to prevent the spread of the disease to migratory and commercial flocks. The virus does not pose a risk to food products that are properly cooked.
