Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been detected in New Brunswick, bringing the total number of Canadian provinces with confirmed cases of HPAI to five.
According to information on the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development website, the virus was confirmed by the Canadian Wildlife Service in a black-backed gull in the Riverview area. Samples from the gull tested positive for an H5N1 strain of HPAI.
With this case, HPAI has been confirmed in five Canadian provinces, including the four Atlantic provinces of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. HPAI has also been confirmed in British Columbia.
The British Columbia and Prince Edward Island cases both involved bald eagles.
While five provinces have reported cases of HPAI, there has only been one case of HPAI in commercial poultry, which was a flock of 11,800 commercial turkeys in Nova Scotia. While the Canadian Food Inspection Agency earlier announced trade restrictions that had been placed on Canadian poultry as a result of the HPAI cases, OIE standards state that HPAI cases in wild birds or backyard flocks should not result in any trade barriers.
HPAI has been confirmed in all four North American flyways in 2022, but to date it has only been confirmed in two flyways – the Atlantic and Pacific – in Canada. However, in the United States the virus has been confirmed in the Atlantic, Mississippi and Central flyways.
As of March 9, HPAI has been confirmed in commercial poultry in seven states: Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Delaware, Maryland, Iowa and South Dakota. While the majority of the cases detected in the U.S. have involved turkey flocks, broiler and layer flocks have also been affected.
To learn more about HPAI cases in North American commercial poultry flocks, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.
Read our ongoing coverage of the global avian influenza outbreak.
