Bird Flu Returns to Minnesota With 6 Newly Infected Farms

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Bird flu has returned to Minnesota after a lull of over a week with no new cases, with presumptive positive test results from six turkey farms.

The new detections announced by the Minnesota Board of Animal Health on Tuesday include the first case in Brown County, a farm with 46,800 turkeys, and new outbreaks at turkey farms in Kandiyohi and Renville counties. The new cases raise the state's total to 94 farms affected in 22 counties.

The board says avian influenza has now cost Minnesota turkey and chicken producers over 8 million birds. That total doesn't include the losses from five of the newly infected farms that are still being tallied.

Until Tuesday, Minnesota had gone 10 straight days with no reports of new cases.