A quickly spreading strain of avian flu has led to the killing of more than 7.3 million birds across the nation. This led Minnesota to declare a state of emergency on Thursday.

Minnesota is not the only state, as on Monday Wisconsin has announced the similar decision. On 46 Minnesota farms in 16 counties, the highly pathogenic H5N2 strain of bird flu has been identified, which has affected more than 2.6 million birds in the state.

State health officials were of the view that they have been speeding up the prescriptions for the antiviral drug Tamiflu for farm workers and others, who are in direct contact with infected flocks. In this outbreak, no human infection has been reported.

After declaring the state of emergency, Governor Mark Dayton was of the view that people do not need to worry in the state with regard to their own health. In fact, federal and local public health authorities have announced that risk of human infection is low.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that the state should provide antiviral drugs. Minnesota's health department shared that they have contacted 140 farm workers and others who have been in direct contact with infected birds.

Out of them, they have advised 87 to take the Roche antiviral medication as a preventive measure. The department's spokesman Michael Schommer was of the view that 70 of them have taken the drug. Schommer said that out of them they have followed 62 people and they have not been infected by the virus so far.

The virus is capable of killing a complete infected flock within 48 hours. Officials said that there are millions of turkeys and chicken in quarantine waiting to be culled and already, large flocks have been culled.