Two new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry operations have been reported in Quebec.
A report from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) stated that both cases were confirmed on April 3 in the Rouville Regional County Municipality. This is the same location as the province’s previously most recent case, which was confirmed on March 27.
CFIA did not disclose the type of poultry flocks that were affected, nor did it report how many birds were in the affected operations.
Outside of the three Rouville flocks, the last time a commercial flock in Canada was affected by HPAI was on March 14, with that incident being confirmed in West Lincoln Township, Ontario.
So far in the 2022-23 HPAI outbreak, Rouville has had six flocks struck by the virus, while Quebec has had 27 commercial poultry flocks affected. Eleven of those cases in Quebec were confirmed in 2023.
The province’s first instance of HPAI during the present outbreak was confirmed on April 12, 2022, in the La Val-Saint-Francois Regional County Municipality.
To date, only two Canadian provinces have had more HPAI cases than Quebec during the 2022-23 outbreak. British Columbia has had 77, while Alberta has had 38.
All provinces in Canada have had confirmed cases of HPAI in either commercial or backyard poultry except for Prince Edward Island, but Prince Edward Island has had confirmed cases of HPAI in wild birds. No poultry in the Canadian territories has been affected by HPAI, but all territories have had confirmed cases in wild birds.
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.
