Officials in Butte County, California, declared a local health emergency after being notified that highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) had been confirmed in a large backyard flock in the county.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) HPAI was confirmed in a backyard flock of 1,100 birds in the county on August 16.
So far in 2022, California has not had any confirmed cases of HPAI in commercial poultry, and the Butte County case is only the second HPAI case in a backyard flock in the state. The first backyard flock where the virus was confirmed was in Sacramento County. That case was confirmed on August 10 and involved 40 birds.
Butte County’s departments of Public Health, Public Works, Office of Emergency Management and Agricultural Commissioner quickly took action, working with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to determine the safest way to prevent the spread of illness, protect the public’s health and dispose of the infected bird carcasses. Declaring a local health emergency expedites a safe and coordinated response to dispose of the carcasses, allowing the carcasses to be buried at the Neal Road Recycling and Waste Facility.
“Identification of avian flu indicates that the virus is present in Butte County - however, the risk to the general public is exceedingly low. Declaring the health emergency allows for disposal of the bird carcasses in a manner that minimizes any remaining risk of spread to other birds and to humans,” said Dr. David Canton, Butte County health officer.
According to APHIS, the last time HPAI was confirmed in a commercial poultry flock in the United States was July 26, when a a flock of 12,700 turkeys in Sanpete County, Utah, was infected.
Because the only cases of HPAI in California involved backyard poultry, these detections should not have an impact on international trade, in accordance with standards set forth by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
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.
