Less than one week after highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) struck a commercial upland gamebird operation in Alabama, the virus has struck the first commercial poultry flock.
According to information from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the presence of HPAI was confirmed in a flock of 47,900 commercial broiler breeder pullets in Marshall County on November 2.
The only other commercial operation to be affected in Alabama during the 2022-23 outbreak was confirmed on October 27, and that was a commercial upland gamebird flock in Chilton County, which involved 296,500 birds. The state has also only had one backyard flock affected, but that case was confirmed in December 2022.
Chilton County is in the central part of the state, while Marshall County is in the northeastern part of the state.
Iowa turkey flock also infected
Another commercial meat turkey flock in Buena Vista County, Iowa, was affected by HPAI. APHIS reported that the flock involved 30,000 turkeys, and the presence of the virus was confirmed on November 1.
This is the is the fourth case of HPAI in commercial poultry in Iowa of 2023. Of those four cases, three have been in Buena Vista County.
So far in 2023, the following states have had confirmed HPAI cases in commercial poultry or commercial gamebirds: Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota, California, Iowa, South Dakota, Utah, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Virginia and Tennessee.
In Canada, HPAI has struck commercial poultry in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec in 2023.
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.
