Avian flu flared up in Minnesota poultry operations last month after a nearly eight-month reprieve, forcing farmers to depopulate eight turkey barns.

A vaccine exists for this highly pathogenic avian influenza, which could be used against the nearly four-year outbreak that has wiped out 9.2 million birds in Minnesota alone.

But if American chickens and turkeys are vaccinated, other countries may not buy them. The fear among importers is that vaccinated birds might not show symptoms of an infection, allowing the virus to spread across borders undetected.

So the option is off the table until the federal government approves a vaccine and new trade pacts can be negotiated — even though bird flu could prompt a pandemic if the virus mutates and starts spreading broadly among humans.

“Vaccina

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