Latest count: Over 2 million Canadian birds hit by HPAI

Avian influenza's toll on Canada has amounted to more than 2 million head of poultry, but the size of one affected flock has not yet been released.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Jennifer Marr | Freeimages.com)
(Jennifer Marr | Freeimages.com)

The latest figures released by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reveal that at least 2,006,251 head of commercial poultry in Canada have been affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in 2022. 

However, that number does fall short of the actual number, as information concerning flock size and flock type of an affected commercial flock in Markham, Ontario, has not been released. HPAI was confirmed there on April 14.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reports the dates and locations where HPAI was confirmed, but does not release the other information previously mentioned. CFIA reports the outbreaks to the WOAH, which later offers more thorough reports.

Based on the data made available, more broilers have been affected than any other type of poultry. Eleven broiler flocks involving 894,919 chickens were affected. The presence of the virus has also been confirmed in the following types of flocks: chicken breeders, ducks, duck and geese breeders, layer breeders, laying hens, turkey, turkey breeders, upland gamebirds and birds only identified as “poultry.”

According to information from the CFIA, the last time HPAI was confirmed in a commercial poultry flock in Canada was on June 7, when it was found in Langley District, British Columbia.

Every province has had at least one confirmed HPAI case, whether it has been in a commercial flock, backyard flock, wild birds or a combination of two or more of these. However, the only provinces to have positive HPAI detections in commercial poultry are Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

The last case of HPAI in commercial poultry in the United States was confirmed in a commercial table egg pullet flock on June 9, affecting 205,000 chickens.

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.

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