South Dakota has had its first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a commercial operation of 2023, as the virus was confirmed in a commercial upland gamebird operation in Spink County.
500 birds were affected, according to a report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
The only other case reported in the state this year was a backyard flock, in which the presence of the virus was confirmed on January 5.
While prior to this case, South Dakota had been spared of any HPAI cases in commercial operations, the state was hit hard in 2022, having had more flocks affected than all other states except Minnesota. Between March 26 and December 12 of that year, 61 commercial poultry farms were affected by HPAI. All but one of those cases involved either in a commercial meat turkey flock or turkey breeding stock flock, with the other being a commercial layer flock.
In terms of birds, the state lost about 3.97 million birds in 2022, ranking sixth behind Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.
Other states to have confirmed cases of HPAI in commercial poultry or commercial gamebird operations in 2023 include Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Tennessee and Virginia.
Of those states, it is Pennsylvania that has been hit the hardest, both in terms of flocks affected and birds lost. According to APHIS, four commercial flocks and 22 backyard flocks have been affected, leading to the death of 139,750 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.
