OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The ongoing bird flu outbreak has spread into northeast Nebraska, and officials are planning to kill 1.7 million chickens on a farm where the disease has been confirmed.
The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said Tuesday that the presence of the illness on an egg farm in Dixon County is the first one in Nebraska.
But bird flu is already widespread in neighboring Iowa where more than 26 million chickens have been lost. Officials routinely destroy the entire flock when the disease is found to limit its spread.
The Agriculture Department says the bird flu doesn't represent a significant health risk to humans, and no human infections have been found.
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