All 400K birds at Indiana farms with bird flu killed

In this Jan. 17. 2016, photo, workers wearing contamination suits are driven to turkey houses on a farm along North Hickory Grove Road in Dubois, Ind. Frigid temperatures are hampering efforts to euthanize turkeys at several southwestern Indiana farms where a strain of bird flu was found last week, freezing the hoses used to spread a foam that suffocates the affected flocks, a spokeswoman for a state agency said Monday, Jan 18. SARAH ANN JUMP/THE HERALD VIA AP

INDIANAPOLIS — Animal health officials responding to a bird flu outbreak in southwest Indiana say crews have finished killing more than 400,000 birds ordered euthanized at the 10 affected commercial poultry farms.

The state issued a statement Wednesday evening saying all of the birds have been killed.

READ: Bird flu detected in US turkey flock

Indiana State Board of Animal Health spokeswoman Denise Derrer says the H7N8 virus has not been found in any other flocks since Saturday.

The H7N8 strain is different than the H5N2 virus that led to the deaths of 48 million birds last summer.

Crews began euthanizing more than 245,000 turkeys in Indiana’s Dubois County last week to prevent the virus’ spread. Another 156,000 chickens at one of 10 farms also were killed because they were at high risk of contracting the virus.