Bird Flu ‘Catastrophe’ Mounts Amid Concern Virus Is Airborne
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Deadly bird flu swelled in the poultry industry in Minnesota and neighboring Wisconsin amid speculation that winds may be carrying virus particles into facilities housing turkeys and chickens.
“This is a catastrophe for both the turkey and the egg industries,” William Rehm, the president of Daybreak Foods Inc., said after his company’s farm in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, with 800,000 egg-laying hens was infected by bird flu. “Some USDA veterinarians are starting to believe the virus is spreading from particulates in the air,” he said Wednesday in a telephone interview.