Farmers must kill 4.2 million chickens after bird flu hits Iowa egg farm More than 4 million chickens in Iowa will have to be killed after a case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was detected at a large egg farm. AP News

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Crews are in the process of killing 4.2 million chickens after the disease was found at a farm in Sioux County, Iowa, making it the latest in a yearslong outbreak that now is affecting dairy cattle as well. Last week, the virus was confirmed at an egg farm west of Minneapolis, Minnesota, leading to the slaughter of nearly 1.4 million chickens.

Avian flu is in cows in the US - is it inching closer to humans? The H5N1 strain of avian flu has been around since 1996, but until now its been largely confined to animals. But it has now jumped to cattle in America and some think it means we are inching towards eventual human-to-human infection, with potentially serious consequences. BBC News

... the (spread of the virus between states seems to be down to the movement of infected cows across state lines. ...

Reporting and surveillance of cattle movement in the US is poor compared with the UK and Europe where the BSE outbreaks of the mid-nineties led to all cows having to be tagged.

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Five things to know about bird flu

There have been major outbreaks around the world in the recent past, including four from 2014 to 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So what makes this time different, and at what point should you be concerned?

Here are five things you should know about bird flu.

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'They need to back off': Farm states push back on Biden’s bird flu response

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is at odds with state officials and the dairy industry over its on-the-ground response to the avian flu outbreak spreading among dairy cows, complicating President Joe Biden’s efforts to track and contain a virus that has the potential to sicken millions of people.

Many farmers don’t want federal health officials on their property. State agriculture officials worry the federal response is sidelining animal health experts at the Agriculture Department, and also that some potential federal interventions threaten to hinder state and local health officials rushing to respond to the outbreaks.

ALSO SEE: A pandemic response that amounts to hoping and praying isn’t nearly enough.