The Canadian province of British Columbia has seen a surge of cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza with one new case confirmed on November 18 and four more confirmed on the following day.
According to information from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the case confirmed on November 18 was in the city of Abbotsford, as were three of the cases confirmed on November 19. The other case confirmed on November 19 was in the city of Chilliwack.
All five cases were described by CFIA only as commercial poultry.
With the new detections, Abbotsford has had eight cases of HPAI in commercial poultry flocks. The first two were confirmed in May, while the remaining six were all confirmed since November 16.
Meanwhile, this is the second case in commercial poultry in Chilliwack. The previous case was confirmed on September 12, and according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), involved a flock of 70,000 commercial laying hens.
To date, 14 cases of HPAI have been confirmed in commercial poultry operations in British Columbia.
New case confirmed in Ontario
CFIA also announced that a case of HPAI had been confirmed in Adelaide Metcalfe, Ontario, on November 18.
Like with the new cases in British Columbia, the CFIA did not disclose the type of flock involved in Adelaide Metcalf, nor did it disclose the size of the flock.
This is the first confirmed case of HPAI in the municipality, and the 25th confirmed case in Ontario. Prior to this detection, the most recent case of HPAI in Ontario was confirmed on October 18.
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.
