Canada expands turkey farm quarantine to stem bird flu

Canadian health officials broadened a quarantine around two turkey farms to nine Wednesday, after H5 bird flu was detected in one of them.

The virus was detected on a farm near Woodstock, Ontario, about 100 kilometers southwest of Toronto, after the sudden deaths of birds over several days.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency placed the farm and a neighboring farm under quarantine to control the spread of the disease, and expanded it as a precaution.

The virus has since been identified as H5N2, which is highly communicable among birds.

Some 34,000 turkeys have also been ordered destroyed, CFIA officials told a teleconference.

The agency said avian flu does not pose a risk to food safety if the poultry is properly handled and cooked, and rarely affects humans not in constant contact with the birds.

At the end of 2014, several poultry farms in British Columbia were hit by the H5N2 virus, resulting in large scale culling of birds and a ban on trade in poultry products with the United States.

This time, Hong Kong and Uruguay have restricted imports of Canadian turkeys until the outbreak is determined to be under control, officials said.