OIE: 302,400 birds in Kentucky depopulated

The toll of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) on poultry in Kentucky has exceeded 300,000 birds, affecting both a broiler operation and a turkey farm.

Roy Graber Headshot
(bangoland | Bigstock)
(bangoland | Bigstock)

The toll of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) on poultry in Kentucky has exceeded 300,000 birds, according to a report from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

On February 14, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported a confirmed case of HPAI in a commercial broiler flock in Fulton County and a presumed-positive case in a commercial turkey flock in Webster County. Later that week, APHIS confirmed the Webster County avian influenza case. APHIS stated that it would report both cases to the OIE, but at the time, it had not revealed the size of either flock.

In the latest report on the OIE webpage, it listed the size of the Fulton County broiler flock as 246,000 chickens, and the Webster County turkey flock’s size at 54,600. Both farms have been quarantined and depopulated.

The report did not specify in either case how many birds died as a result of contracting HPAI and how many died by way of depopulation procedures.

Indiana avian influenza cases

That same report also includes updates on the two confirmed cases of HPAI in commercial turkey flocks in Dubois County, Indiana. One of those farms had 85 mortalities, while the remaining birds in the flock were depopulated for a total loss of 29,000 turkeys. The other had 152 mortalities, while the remaining 26,473 turkeys in the flock were depopulated.

The Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) has reported there are two other presumed-positive cases of HPAI in Greene County, Indiana, but the tests have not yet been confirmed by the USDA.

Other states to have confirmed cases of HPAI are Maine, New York, Virginia, New Hampshire, Delaware, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. In all of those states, the virus has only been confirmed in backyard poultry or in wild birds.

HPAI has also been confirmed in two Canadian provinces.

View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.

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