More Pennsylvania turkeys lost to avian influenza

Cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continue to be confirmed in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, with the two most recent cases involving a commercial meat turkey flock and a commercial breeder tom flock.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Budabar | Bigstock)
(Budabar | Bigstock)

Cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continue to be confirmed in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, with the two most recent cases involving a commercial meat turkey flock and a commercial breeder tom flock.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), both cases were confirmed on November 10. There were 18,500 birds in the meat turkey flock, and 160 in the flock of toms.

APHIS also provided an update on a previously reported case in Lehigh County. The agency had earlier reported HPAI had been confirmed in a commercial turkey breeding hen flock on November 8, but had not yet revealed the size of the flock. APHIS has since reported that there were 7,500 hens in that flock.

These three cases bring Lehigh County’s total number of cases in 2022 to six. The other three cases all involved commercial meat turkeys, with those three cases confirmed on November 3, 4 and 8, and collectively involving 60,400 turkeys.

To date, Pennsylvania has had 25 commercial poultry flocks affected by HPAI, leading to the loss of more than 4.3 million birds. It ranks third nationally in terms of flocks affected and birds lost. Only Iowa and Nebraska have had more bird losses, while only Minnesota and South Dakota have had more flock losses.

In addition to Lehigh County, other Pennsylvania counties to have lost commercial poultry flocks to HPAI are Adams, York, Berks and Lancaster. These losses have been experienced by a variety of poultry sectors, including the turkey, broiler, egg and duck industries.

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.

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