Following the confirmation of a case of a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Wayne County, North Carolina, there are three more presumed-positive cases in that county, according to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.
According to information on the agency’s website, two of those suspect cases are in commercial broiler flocks, while the other is in a commercial turkey flock.
One of the presumed-positive broiler flocks includes 216,049 chickens, while the other includes 65,601. The suspect turkey flock includes 14,175 turkeys.
Tests from those flocks were sent to the to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL).
The confirmed case of HPAI in Wayne County involved a flock of 16,924 commercial turkeys.
In total, four cases of HPAI have been confirmed in North Carolina. The remaining three all occurred in Johnston County. The first was confirmed on March 29 and involved 32,134 commercial turkeys. The other two cases were both confirmed on April 2 and they involved two commercial turkey operations, one with 9,546 turkeys and the other with 18,888 turkeys.
There have also been multiple cases of HPAI reported in hunter-harvested birds in North Carolina, but those detections should not have any impact on international poultry trade, in accordance with World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) standards.
So far in 2022, HPAI has been confirmed in commercial poultry flocks in the following states: North Dakota, Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Indiana, North Carolina, Minnesota and Texas. The Texas case involved pheasants. The virus has also been confirmed in commercial turkey flocks in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia.
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.
