A second case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial turkeys in Dubois County, Indiana, has been confirmed.
Following an announcement from the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) that there was a presumed-positive case of HPAI in the second flock and the lab tests were being verified, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on February 16 listed on its website that the presumed-positive flock was confirmed to have the virus.
This facility was within the 10-kilometer control zone established around the site of the first case, and there were 26,473 young turkeys in that second flock. About 29,000 birds were in the first flock to be confirmed.
APHIS did not release any additional information on the second Dubois County case, but BOAH stated that it had been notified of a suspect case because the turkeys had substantially decreased their water consumption.
Both Dubois County turkey flocks have been depopulated.
This marks the third case of HPAI in commercial poultry in the United States in 2022. The other case was a commercial broiler flock in Fulton County, Kentucky. The broilers were being raised for Tyson Foods.
Indiana reports another suspect case
In addition to the two confirmed cases of HPAI in Dubois County, BOAH reported that a third turkey flock in the state is suspected of being infected by an H5 variant of avian influenza.
This case, however, is in Greene County, which is two counties north of Dubois.
There are about 48,000 turkeys in this suspect flock, and BOAH said that depopulation was pending.
While Indiana is the only state to have confirmed or suspect cases of HPAI in turkey flocks, there has also been a case in Canada. Earlier this month, a turkey flock of 11,800 in Nova Scotia was confirmed to have the virus.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
