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Bird flu outbreak: Over 2 million chickens, turkeys test positive in Miami Valley

Stock photo of a brown chicken. (mariis/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

DARKE COUNTY — High Path Avian Influenza, otherwise known as bird flu, cases are continuing to grow in poultry in the Miami Valley, with over 2 million new cases confirmed this month.

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News Center 7′s Amber Jenkins is speaking with the Ohio Department of Agriculture about the outbreak. She’ll have the latest tonight on News Center 7 at 6:00.

Over 1.9 million commercial chickens and 72,282 commercial turkeys in Darke and Mercer counties were confirmed positive for bird flu by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in 11 reports since Jan. 9, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA).

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All the birds had to be “depopulated.” As News Center 7 has reported with previous bird flu outbreaks, ODA’s procedure is to quarantine the impacted facility and to “depopulate,” or kill, the birds to prevent the disease from spreading.

This comes after over 930,000 commercial chickens in Darke County tested positive for bird flu and were depopulated in December.

The exact location of where these chickens and turkeys were in Darke and Mercer counties was not initially released.

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