Two commercial poultry flocks have been confirmed to have contracted highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza. One is a turkey flock in Minnesota, while the other is a layer farm located in South Dakota.
Confirmation of avian influenza in both flocks was announced by USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on May 19.
The South Dakota case occurred in Moody County, the first confirmed case in that county. At that farm, 1.2 million chickens were affected. The Minnesota case occurred in Meeker County, where eight previous detections of avian influenza have been reported. An estimated 138,000 turkeys were affected in this case.
Both farms are being depopulated and disinfected to help prevent the spread of the virus.
With the two new cases, APHIS has now reported 170 avian influenza detections, involving an estimated 39,362,073 birds. APHIS, along with various state agriculture and wildlife agencies, have confirmed the presence of avian influenza in 20 states since the virus was first discovered in Washington state in January. Minnesota and Iowa remain the two states with the largest number of avian influenza cases.
To track confirmed cases of the North American avian influenza outbreak, see WATTAgNet's avian influenza tracker map and bookmark the avian influenza update page for news about and analysis of avian influenza.
