INDIANAPOLIS (WOWO): Indiana plans to lift a ban on poultry shows September 17. 

Indiana‘s Board of Animal Health issued an indefinite ban on commingling bird flocks in May after the first Indiana case of a national avian flu outbreak that‘s killed 48-million birds. The ban will mean bird-free poultry barns at the Indiana State Fair next month. 

But there hasn‘t been a bird flu case since one in Iowa three weeks ago. If the virus doesn‘t pop up again before mid-September, that‘ll be three months since the last U-S case — the international standard for declaring the country flu-free. 

BOAH will replace the poultry-show ban with a new traceability rule, requiring buyers and sellers to keep records of all transactions for three years. 

State veterinarian Bret Marsh says that parallels Indiana‘s rule for livestock .Marsh says Indiana was able to respond quickly to its lone bird flu case in Whitley County because a Wolf Lake swap meet had kept detailed records, even though it wasn‘t required. 

The board has narrowed the ban to cover poultry, including waterfowl and game birds, instead of applying to all birds.