New cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been confirmed in commercial poultry flocks in the United States and Canada.
HPAI appears at two more Minnesota farms
In the United States, two commercial turkey operations in Minnesota were affected. One of them was in Blue Earth County and involved 11,900 birds, according to information from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The other was in Kandiyohi County, and involved 53,700 birds. Both instances were confirmed on October 24.
Minnesota, which had more flocks affected by HPAI in 2022, had not seen any cases in commercial poultry for the first nine months of 2023. However, since it resurfaced in the state on October 11, the presence of HPAI has been confirmed in eight commercial flocks. Two of them have been in Blue Earth County, but this is the first 2023 HPAI case in Kandiyohi County.
To date, 89 commercial poultry flocks have been hit by HPAI in Minnesota during the past two years.
British Columbia farm hit by HPAI
On the same day APHIS reported the new Minnesota cases, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reported that a commercial poultry operation in Chilliwack, British Columbia, had been struck by HPAI.
Another commercial poultry farm in Chilliwack was a confirmed site of HPAI infection four days earlier.
CFIA has not yet disclosed the flock sizes for the most recent Chilliwack cases, nor has it offered information on the type of poultry involved.
Just as Minnesota was the U.S. state hardest hit by HPAI in 2022, British Columbia had more premises affected by HPAI than any other Canadian province in 2022.
Since April 13, 2022, British Columbia has had 81 commercial poultry flocks affected by HPAI.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States, Mexico and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.
