Nebraska declares state of emergency in bird flu outbreak

Nebraska declares state of emergency in bird flu outbreak. Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts declared a state of emergency on Thursday, after federal agriculture officials confirmed a second farm site had tested positive for the rapidly spreading avian flu virus. The declaration follows earlier, similar actions by governors in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, whose states have all been hard hit by the ongoing bird flu outbreak that has led to the culling of more than 33 million birds in 16 U.S. states. Ricketts’ move opens the door to releasing emergency funds and other aid to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and other state agencies trying to contain the bird flu outbreak. The U.S. poultry and egg industry has been grappling for months with the biggest outbreak on record of avian influenza in the United States. The H5 strains in the current U.S. outbreak pose a low risk to human health, experts say, and no human infections have been identified so far.