After Europe, bird flu outbreak sweeps US

According to reports, the US has killed over 37 million chickens and turkeys in the worst bird flu outbreak in the country.

Reports claim Iowa has culled millions of animals including Wisconsin as farmers conduct mass culls in America's Midwest. Reports claim the disease is being spread by migratory wild birds which have destroyed poultry with vast amount of eggs destroyed in Iowa.

Amid soaring food prices, the large scale culling of livestock has hit the poultry industry as wholesale egg prices touched a new high in the US last month.

Also Read: China reports first human case of bird flu; four-year old boy infected

America was hit by bird flu in 2015 as 50 million birds were killed. Iowa reportedly accounted for two-thirds of the total birds that were destroyed in the last outbreak. Iowa is one of the largest producers of eggs in America.

Watch: France faces its worst bird flu outbreak

France has also been hit by bird flu with a record 16 million chickens, ducks and other poultry being culled since last year. France has been hit by multiple bird flu outbreaks in the past few years. This time like in the US, reports claim birds migrating back from the south contaminated poultry.

Egg production in France has dipped 6 per cent since November even as world food prices continue to zoom worldwide with at least 1,000 sites containing bird flu.

Europe has been badly hit by the H5N1 virus with  34 European countries reporting bird flu cases since last winter with Italy being the worst hit as authorities culled 18 million birds.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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