Utah has the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a commercial poultry flock, with this instance occurring in a commercial egg layer flock in Cache County.
The case was confirmed on April 25, according to information on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) website. The flock included 1.4 million hens.
The only previous case of HPAI in the state was in a backyard flock of seven birds in Utah County, although that case will not have an impact on international poultry trade.
This case marks 15th case of HPAI in a commercial layer flock in 2022. To date, 24,631,000 layers have been affected by avian influenza this year.
In addition to Utah, the following states have had confirmed HPAI cases in commercial poultry: Minnesota, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The virus has also been found in commercial game bird operations in Texas, New York and South Dakota.
Minnesota has one more HPAI case
On the same day APHIS reported the Utah case, it reported another case in a commercial turkey flock in Minnesota. In this instance, 14,600 turkeys in Stearns County were affected.
This is the seventh commercial flock in Stearns County to have been struck by HPAI in 2022. In addition, avian influenza was confirmed in a backyard flock of 140 birds in the county.
Minnesota, as of April 26, has had 55 cases of HPAI in commercial poultry flocks. Of those, 50 have been in commercial turkey flocks and three have been in turkey breeding hen flocks. The virus has also been confirmed in one broiler flock and one layer flock in the state.
To date, there have been 106 commercial turkey farms in the United States affected by HPAI. That number does not include breeder and poult flocks, in which there have collectively been 10 cases this year.
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.
