The Iowa Department of Agriculture today announced an order to cancel all live bird exhibitions at county fairs, the Iowa State Fair, and other gatherings of birds due to avian influenza.
The Department’s order begins immediately, is effective through the end of 2015, and also prohibits live birds from being sold at livestock auction markets, swap meets and exotic sales.
Iowa has over 25 million birds and more than 60 farms impacted by H5N2 highly-pathogenic avian influenza. A news release from the Ag Department says the purpose of the directive is to minimize the risk of potential further spread of the virus to other poultry.
The Center for Disease Control and Iowa Department of Public Health consider the risk to the public to be very low. No human infections of the virus have ever been detected and there is no food safety risk for consumers.