The Change Mariner

Bird Flu Is Found on Two More U.S. Farms

New York Times:

Hundreds of thousands of chickens on two commercial farms in Maryland are being slaughtered after a case of avian influenza was found there, officials said Sunday.

A total of 328,000 birds were ordered slaughtered, nearly four times the number killed when two Delaware farms were infected last month.
The cases in Delaware and Maryland are from the same virus strain, which is not harmful to humans, the authorities said Sunday.

Maryland agriculture officials ordered a quarantine that covers eight farms within two miles of the infected farms. The state also began testing 79 poultry farms within six miles radius.

The infected farms, on Maryland's Eastern Shore, are about 45 miles from the nearest infected farm in Delaware. The authorities said they had not discovered a connection between the cases but did not rule one out.