SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Poultry in parts of two Southern California counties is under quarantine due to outbreaks of virulent Newcastle disease in backyard birds.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture acted this week as the virus continued to appear in San Bernardino County and adjacent Riverside County since June.
An initial case was detected in May in backyard exhibition chickens in Los Angeles County. The department says that was the first case of the disease in the U.S. since 2003. Cases since then have been in the two counties to the east.
The highly contagious disease can cause high rates of death in susceptible birds, usually chickens.
People exposed to infected birds may get an eye inflammation or have mild fever symptoms, but the disease is not spread by eating poultry products.
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