Bird flu outbreak uncontrolled for two months on Utah mink farm, ProPublica reports

The short version

• ProPublica reports bird flu has raged uncontrolled for over two months on C&T Fenn Farms, a Utah mink fur farm.[ProPublica]
• Utah agriculture officials learned of dying mink in mid-August, according to public records cited by ProPublica.[ProPublica]
• USDA officials say they do not regulate mink and lack an approved vaccine for them.[ProPublica]
• Flu experts say the government should have ordered culling, while a fur trade representative warned that culling would kill the business.[ProPublica]

Key facts

• The bird flu outbreak has continued uncontrolled for over two months on C&T Fenn Farms, a Utah mink fur farm.[ProPublica]
• Utah agriculture officials learned in mid-August that mink were dying of bird flu, according to communications released under the state's public records law.[ProPublica]
• Genomic data from mink lung and brain samples shows the mink were infected with the same strain of bird flu that has spread in dairy herds.[ProPublica]
• USDA officials said they do not regulate mink and did not have a vaccine approved to give them.[ProPublica]
• Flu experts said the government should have ordered the farm to cull its mink, as other countries have done.[ProPublica]
• A fur trade representative warned that culling would kill the business and, ultimately, the industry.[ProPublica]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.

• Bird Flu Is Raging on a Mink Farm. It Could Spark a Human Pandemic, Experts Say, but Officials Won’t Act.ProPublica