A commercial poultry operation in Ionia County, Michigan, has tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) announced on April 2.
The agency has not yet disclosed how many birds were involved, nor has it disclosed what species of poultry was involved. However, a press release from MDARD indicated it was a commercial egg operation.
“Michigan’s egg farmers are among the most proactive in the country, with their diligence leading to rapid detection of HPAI in this flock,” Dr. Nancy Barr, executive director of Michigan Allied Poultry Industries said in the release. “Strict biosecurity measures are in place to protect flocks from the increased threat of HPAI.”
This is the fourth commercial poultry flock in Michigan to have the presence of HPAI confirmed during the 2022-24 HPAI outbreak. The three previous cases all involved commercial turkey operations. Two of those were confirmed in December 2023, and collectively affected about 79,400 birds. The other case was confirmed in May 2022 and involved about 35,100 turkeys.
This is the first case in Ionia County poultry.
The Ionia County poultry case was announced less than a week after MDARD revealed that cattle in a dairy herd in Montcalm County, Michigan, had tested positive for HPAI. Ionia County is directly south of Montcalm County.
Other states to have confirmed cases of HPAI in dairy cattle include Texas, Kansas and New Mexico, while Idaho has had a presumed positive case.
To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States, Mexico and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
