Iowa HPAI Quarantine Zones Reduced to Eight

By Tyler R. Etter

On August 4, 2015, ag officials in the state of Iowa lifted 69 out of 77 quarantine zones in effect in response to avian influenza infection. There are now only 8 quarantine zones remaining across three counties in the state.

The quarantine zones were 10 kilometers in size centered around locations that had confirmed cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry.  When a quarantine zone is enacted, all movement of poultry and poultry products must be permitted by the state department of agriculture. To reduce risk of further infection, the flocks are depopulated and disposed of, with the premises then entering a period of cleaning and disinfection.

All 77 of the affected premises have gone through depopulation and disposal. Sixteen sites have completed the cleaning and disinfection process, and currently four sites are now able to begin repopulating flocks. A premise can only begin repopulation after a minimum of 21 days have passed since the last day of cleaning and disinfection, to be assessed by state animal health officials. Then state and APHIS officials must agree in writing that the affected premises can be restocked.

A control area is lifted for an area when the last infected premises in the area has been depopulated, and there have been no positive results for 21 days since the initial cleaning and disinfection of the last infected area.

It is worth noting that the quarantine is only being lifted for those premises within the control zone that had no actual HPAI infection. Premises with confirmed HPAI infections are still under quarantine.