The presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in Dickey County, North Dakota.
The case was announced by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture on April 18.
“This is the first case of HPAI in poultry in the state this year,” said North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. “Protecting our North Dakota producers, who raise approximately 1 million commercial birds yearly, and our many backyard bird owners is a high priority.”
The size of the affected flock has not yet been released. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service typically releases flock size information on its website, but one day after NDDA issued a press release concerning the case, no details on the case could be found on the APHIS site.
NDDA said is working with the North Dakota State Board of Animal Health and APHIS, as well as local officials in the response.
The premises was quarantined and the flock is being depopulated. A 10-kilomter control zone is now in place, and producers within that zone are being contacted and their birds are being monitored, NDDA stated.
With the new detection, the commingling of poultry and bird-related events will be suspended in Dickey County, and Dickey County birds will not be allowed to be part of such events in other counties. If no new HPAI cases emerge in 30 days, that suspension will be lifted.
According to past estimates from APHIS, North Dakota had five cases of HPAI in commercial turkey flocks in 2022, with the first case being confirmed on April 1 and the final case of the year confirmed on September 27. An estimated 235,600 birds were lost in those cases, with the largest of the affected flocks consisting of 69,100 turkeys. One of the 2022 cases was in Dickey County. Two were in Lamoure County, while Ransom and Richland Counties also each had one case.
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.
