Bird flu spreads in US

Poultry farmers in the United States are battening down the hatches as a strain of bird flu sweeps across the Midwest.

Avian influenza was found in millions of hens at a farm in Iowa yesterday, prompting neighbouring Wisconsin to declare a state of emergency.

It's the worst case so far in a national outbreak which the US Agriculture Department has so far spent $45m dollars trying to contain.

The deadly H5N2 virus can kill nearly an entire infected flock within 48 hours, although it is a strain considered of low risk to humans.

Sheila Larson, is from the Iowa Turkey Federation and a turkey farmer herself. She told us how worried she was about it spreading.

And Jim Sumner is President of the US Poultry and Egg Export Council,and the International Poultry Council. He told us how much of an impact this latest outbreak is having on the industry.