ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Board of Animal Health reported two presumptive infections of the highly pathogenic avian influenza Thursday.
Flocks in Kandiyohi County and Swift County tested positive for avian influenza. Testing is being completed to confirm whether it is the H5N2 virus as believed.
If confirmed, it would bring to 32 the number of quarantined farms in Kandiyohi County and to six the number in Swift County. The numbers of birds in the affected flocks were not reported.
The latest infections come after a one-day reprieve in reported cases. Officials had expressed hope that the one-day break signaled that warmer weather was helping stop the spread of the disease. The highly pathogenic avian influenza was first confirmed in Minnesota on a Pope County farm on March 4.
There are now 84 quarantined farms in 21 counties in the state. The number of birds lost as a result of the disease in Minnesota is now 5,592,932, according to the Board of Animal Health.
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