Form Of Avian Flu Found At Chicken Farm In Sulphur Springs

SULPHUR SPRINGS (AP) - Texas and federal agriculture authorities are testing birds and poultry in a northeast Texas county after inspectors detected a low-pathogenic form of avian flu at a poultry farm.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the H7N1 influenza was found last week during routine surveillance of a commercial breeder's flock of about 24,000 chickens in Hopkins County, about 75 miles northeast of Dallas.

Authorities now are testing other poultry within about six miles of the Hopkins County farm.

Federal officials last week confirmed a similar occurrence at a turkey farm in southwestern Missouri but said it poses no risk to the food chain.

The low-pathogenic flu is different from the high-pathogenic virus that resulted in the loss of nearly 50 million birds in the Midwest in 2015.

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