Russia, Japan halt N.C. poultry imports on avian influenza concerns

Russia and Japan have halted imports of poultry from North Carolina after initial tests on a flock of turkeys came back positive for low-pathogenic avian influenza, said Lyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Further tests were unable to isolate the virus, signaling that this isn’t a positive case, and there are no signs of disease in the birds, said Cole. “There are no clinical signs of avian influenza in this flock,” she said. “We have no reason to believe that the virus is present.”