Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has struck in the United States again, with the most recent cases being a flock of laying hens in Pennsylvania a turkey flock in Wisconsin.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), HPAI was confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in Barron County, Wisconsin on May 13, with 10,500 birds in that flock.
One day later, APHIS confirmed the virus in a commercial egg laying flock in Berks County, Wisconsin. In that case, 83,700 birds were affected.
Prior to those two cases, the most recent HPAI confirmation in a U.S. commercial poultry operation occurred on May 10.
To date, Barron County has had six confirmed cases of HPAI in commercial turkey operations and one confirmed case in a backyard flock. The most recent was the smallest commercial flock to be affected in the county in 2022, while the largest flock to be affected involved 110,700 turkeys.
Berks County has had five confirmed HPAI cases in 2022, but prior to the infection of the layer flock, all other cases in commercial poultry in the county this year have involved ducks.
So far in 2022, HPAI has been confirmed in commercial poultry flocks in Michigan, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Colorado, North Carolina, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Utah. The virus has also been found in commercial game bird operations in Texas, New York and South Dakota.
Two new avian flu cases in Canada
In addition to these new cases in the United States, two new cases have been confirmed in Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has reported the presence of HPAI in a commercial poultry flock in Two Hills County, Alberta, and another commercial flock in the York municipality in Ontario.
Further information regarding these two Canadian cases has not yet been released.
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.
