The presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been detected in another commercial turkey flock in North Carolina.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported that HPAI was confirmed a flock in Duplin County on February 20. There were 20,900 birds in that flock.
This is the second case of HPAI to be reported in a commercial poultry flock in North Carolina in 2024, with both cases involving meat turkeys. The earlier reported case was a flock of 32,400 commercial turkeys in Lenoir County, with APHIS officials confirming that on February 9.
Both of these flock infections come after North Carolina went all of 2023 without any instances of HPAI in commercial operations.
The state had nine commercial poultry flocks affected by HPAI in 2022, leading to the loss of 481,400 birds. None of those cases were in Duplin County.
So far in 2024, the following states have had confirmed cases of HPAI in commercial operations: North Carolina Wisconsin, Colorado, Nebraska, Indiana, South Dakota, Kansas and California. In Canada, the provinces of Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have had commercial poultry operations affected by the virus.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States, Mexico and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.
