A flock of 1.4 million laying hens in Weld County, Colorado, is the latest case of highly pathogenic avian influenza to be confirmed.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) the case was confirmed on December 16. It is the fifth case of HPAI in a commercial poultry flock for the county in 2022. The last time a case of HPAI was confirmed in the county was September 21.
With the Weld County case, there have been three cases in the U.S. within as many days when more than 1 million laying hens were affected by HPAI. The other two cases were in Franklin County, Washington, and Moody County, South Dakota.
According to APHIS, the Franklin County flock had 1,015,500 hens. APHIS earlier reported that thee Moody County case involved 1,200,400 birds, but the agency has since updated its website to reflect that 1,332,100 birds were affected.
To date, the United States has had a minimum of 300 commercial flocks affected by HPAI, resulting in the loss of approximately 55.9 million birds.
New cases found in Ontario, British Columbia
New HPAI infections have been found in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Ontario, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reported.
The presence of HPAI was confirmed at a commercial poultry farm in Lambton Shores, Ontario, on December 17. The following day, another case was confirmed in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Information concerning the flock sizes and the type of birds affected in these cases has not been disclosed.
These cases mark the second in Lambton Shores and the 41st in Abbotsford.
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.
