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FLANDREAU, S.D. (AP) — Federal agriculture officials have confirmed that a strain of bird flu that affected an egg-laying operation of 1.3 million chickens in Flandreau was the same one that's wiped out millions of birds across the Midwest.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, has confirmed the presence of the H5N2 strain at Dakota Layers.
The operation accounts for almost half of the egg-laying chickens in South Dakota. It announced last week it had been affected after noticing an unusual number of dead birds in one of its barns.
The USDA has confirmed more than 38 million birds in 15 states with the H5N2 virus that scientists believe came to the Midwest this spring with migrating waterfowl.
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