Bird flu has hit a Long Island farm, forcing workers to euthanize over 100,000 ducks to prevent further spread.
According to the Suffolk County Department of Health, the owner of Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue tested his flock after noticing signs of illness in the ducks. In a devastating turn of events on January 17, the tests confirmed the ducks were contaminated with the bird flu.
“Unfortunately, when you have a situation like this where you have a flock that’s infected, the remedy is to put the entire flock down,” Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson Pigott told WABC.
The Crescent Duck Farm’s flock consists of over 100,000 ducks—all of which must be euthanized to protect the health of staff.
So far, no workers have been reported ill.
“The risk to public health is minimal as the virus at this point is not transmissible among humans,” Pigott said in a statement. “A full investigation is underway because there is some potential for transmission of the H5N1 bird flu from the infected birds to individual farm workers who had high-risk exposures.”
According to the CDC, the bird flu is currently “widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers.”
“While the current public health risk is low, CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures,” the CDC’s website reads.
Most cases of bird flu in humans have been mild with patients seeing full recoveries. The virus has caused just one known death so far—a Louisiana resident over 65 with underlying medical conditions passed after contracting bird flu late last year.
This recent infection and need for euthanization is just another heartbreaking example of the implications of the H5 bird flu here in the U.S.
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