The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reported a new case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HAPI) in a commercial poultry flock in Sturgeon County, Alberta.
The case was confirmed on August 31, but information about the type of birds in the flock or the size of the flock was not disclosed.
This marks the second HPAI case in Sturgeon County, but it is the first in the county that involved a commercial poultry operation. A backyard flock in the county was affected on April 21, according to the CFIA.
Before this latest case, Alberta’s most recent HPAI case in commercial poultry was confirmed on August 23 in Athabasca County.
To date, 22 commercial poultry flocks in the province have been affected by HPAI.
Outside of Alberta, the last confirmed case in commercial poultry in Canada was confirmed on August 1 in f flock in Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, Quebec.
Every province in Canada has had at least one positive HPAI finding, but not all of those have been in a commercial flock. The only provinces to have confirmed HPAI findings in commercial poultry are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.
The new avian flu case in Alberta follows a resurgence of cases in the United States. During the past week, the presence of HPAI was confirmed in two commercial turkey flocks in Meeker County, Minnesota, making those the first cases in the state since May. Also in California, six new cases have been confirmed since August 22. Those included three commercial turkey flocks in Tuolumne County, one commercial turkey flock in Sacramento County, and two broiler breeder flocks in Fresno County.
To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.
Read our ongoing coverage of the global avian influenza outbreak.
