The highly infectious nature of the current strain of avian influenza should be a major concern for commercial poultry operations in the U.S., cautioned Mary Pantin-Jackwood, Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, U.S. National Poultry Research Center, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service.
Speaking as a part of the International Poultry Science Forum (IPSF), part of the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, Georgia, Pantin-Jackwood said “this one in particular is more infectious to poultry than previous ones.”
Avian influenza mutates quickly, making it difficult to eradicate. In addition, if a bird is infected with two different strains at the same time, the two strains can mutate into a third strain to infect others within the flock.
The U.S. is currently experiencing the worst outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) since 2015. The virus has been confirmed in commercial poultry flocks in 13 U.S. states since the start of the year, including North Dakota, Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Indiana, North Carolina, Minnesota, Kansas and Texas. The virus has also been confirmed in poultry in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
In addition, the 2022 avian influenza outbreak in Europe is the largest recorded. Since wild bird flyways is one of the main ways that avian influenza is spread, this could have dire consequences for commercial poultry in the U.S.
The 2022 outbreak also spread into South America and Mexico for the first time.
Pantin-Jackwood’s lab is currently studying the genetics of the avian flu to better determine and predict how it spreads.
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.
