PENNSYLVANIA State confirms avian flu on Lancaster County farm

The strain is different from the one found in Delaware and New Jersey.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- The state Agriculture Department confirmed an outbreak of avian flu at a Lancaster County farm but said the strain infecting the flock is not likely to be harmful to humans.
Agriculture Secretary Dennis C. Wolff said late Friday that a flock near Mount Joy was infected with the H2N2 strain of avian influenza.
That's a slightly different version of the virus than the H7N2 that was found on two farms in Delaware and in live-bird markets in New Jersey. But none of those found in the United States so far resembles the H5N1 virus that has jumped to humans and killed at least 18 people in Asia.
"This is not the strain in Asia or Delaware," Wolff said. "We believe this indicates no threat to human health and a low threat to the poultry industry. Based on this information, USDA is notifying our international trading partners to reassure them of the safety of U.S. poultry products."
State agriculture officials have quarantined the infected farm, and flocks on 16 nearby farms were being tested.
Exhibitions canceled
The state canceled all poultry exhibitions indefinitely after it first identified avian flu antibodies in the flock Thursday. At the time, it was not known whether the flock was actually infected or whether the antibodies were left over from previous exposure.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey lost millions of birds during avian-flu outbreaks in the 1980s. An outbreak that affected several Eastern states in 2001 and 2002 forced the destruction of more than 4.7 million birds in Virginia and 170,000 in Pennsylvania.
Officials say Pennsylvania's voluntary avian-flu surveillance program is one of the largest in the nation, with 211,000 samples tested last year.