SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Backyard poultry producers are being told by the state to monitor their flocks after a deadly avian flu outbreak in the Tri-Cities area.

About 700 chickens, turkeys, ducks and guinea fowl in two backyard flocks were affected by the outbreak earlier this month.

The Spokesman-Review reports some of the birds died from the fast-acting H5N2 avian influenza, which poses little risk to people. The remaining birds were destroyed to prevent the disease's spread.

Contact with infected wild ducks is believed to have caused the outbreak.

The state Department of Agriculture has ordered a quarantine of at least 240 days for a 20-mile zone around the Tri-Cities properties with the infected flocks. The quarantine bans the movement of eggs, poultry and other poultry products outside the zone.

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