(ABC 6 News) – With less than two weeks before Thanksgiving, cases of bird flu are spreading, especially in Iowa.

The state’s Department of Agriculture detected multiple cases forcing Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds to issue a disaster proclamation.

Ever since the outbreak began last year, nearly 63 million birds nationwide have been killed to prevent the spread of the disease.

“It’s a reminder that for our producers, for our farmers out there, they have to think about this year-round all the time, and that means they need to have biosecurity plans on their farm every single day really,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said.

So far, more than 17 million birds in Iowa have been killed since the outbreak started.

That’s the most out of any state, with Minnesota being 4th on the list with around 5.6 million birds killed.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship has been monitoring the disease closely and so far remains optimistic about its biosecurity practices.

“We are not seeing the virus spread between farm to farm, which would be an indication that we don’t have good biosecurity,” Naig said.

The most recent detection of bird flu in Iowa was in Kossuth and Cerro Gordo counties.

Even though the number of detections has been concerning, they don’t present an immediate public health issue to humans.

It’s unsure as to how long bird the bird flu outbreak will continue and if conditions could worsen.

“Only time will tell, it’s so many things it depends on the weather, it depends on the pace of migration, all of those things contribute,” Naig said.

To learn some biosecurity measures you can take to keep yourself safe, click here.