Following news of a bird flu outbreak on an egg farm in Sioux County, Iowa, the first case of bird flu in a dairy herd was reported in neighboring O’Brien County. According to the Iowa Agriculture Department, genomic sequencing indicates that the virus that affected the egg farm is consistent with the bird flu variant that struck dairy farms in other states. This includes limiting unnecessary visitors and reporting symptomatic birds or cattle to the department. Expect new steps to protect Iowa livestock to be announced soon.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig called on dairy and poultry farmers to harden their biosecurity defenses against the virus. This is the first new state to report bird flu in a dairy herd since April 25. However, there have been a total of 83 herds in the nation diagnosed with bird flu so far.

Read more on the outbreak of bird flu in Iowa here.