There were 240,000 chickens in the Stoddard County broiler flock where the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was confirmed, according to information released by the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA).
During the morning of March 4, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that HPAI had been confirmed in commercial broiler flock in Stoddard County, Missouri, but the agency did not reveal the size of the flock.
Several hours later, MDA, on its website, stated the number of chickens affected, but offered little additional information not already provided by APHIS.
The farm has been quarantined and depopulation activities are underway.
This case is the second case of HPAI in commercial broilers in the United States in 2022.
Stoddard County, in southeastern Missouri, is in relative close proximity to Fulton County, Kentucky, where the country’s first confirmed case of HPAI in a commercial broiler flock occurred. The Fulton County case involved 246,000 chickens.
Kentucky, to date has had two cases of HPAI. The other case involved a commercial turkey flock in Webster County. Other confirmed cases of HPAI in the United States include four commercial turkey flocks in Dubois County, Indiana, two commercial turkey flocks in Greene County, Indiana, and a commercial layer flock in New Castle County, Delaware.
The presence of HPAI in a commercial turkey flock in Nova Scotia, Canada, was also confirmed earlier in 2022.
To date, HPAI has been confirmed in three of the four flyways. Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky are in the Mississippi Flyway, while Delaware and Nova Scotia are located in the Atlantic Flyway. While no HPAI cases have been confirmed in commercial poultry in the Pacific Flyway, it has been confirmed in a bald eagle found in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Wild bird detections, in accordance with World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) international standards, should not result in any trade restrictions.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
