Commercial poultry flocks in North America continue to be hit hard by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), with two states having their first confirmed HPAI cases of 2023.
Avian influenza strikes Ohio
Ohio and Wisconsin both had HPAI return to commercial poultry flocks for the first time in more than a year.
The most recent case to appear in Ohio was confirmed in a commercial table egg layer flock in Union County on November 21. There were 1,348,900 hens in the flock, according to information from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
This is only the state’s second HPAI infection during the 2022-23 outbreak, with the only other case being confirmed on September 3, 2022. That case involved another commercial egg operation, with nearly 3.75 million hens affected.
HPAI returns to Wisconsin poultry
APHIS confirmed that a commercial meat turkey flock in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, was struck by HPAI, with that case being confirmed on November 22.
The state had not had any commercial operations affected by HPAI since a commercial upland gamebird farm in Jefferson County was a confirmed site of HPAI on November 7, 2022.
However, Wisconsin had not had any commercial poultry flocks hit by avian influenza since a commercial meat turkey flock in Dunn County was affected on September 29, 2022. The state has had 12 commercial farms struck by HPAI during the 2022-23 outbreak.
Multiple Minnesota farms struck by avian flu
Eight commercial poultry farms in Minnesota have been struck by HPAI, pushing the total number of farms affected during the 2022-23 outbreak to 104.
On November 24, APHIS confirmed the presence of HPAI in a flock of 7,200 commercial turkey breeder hens in Kandiyohi County and a flock of 19,500 commercial meat turkeys in Otter Tail County.
On November 22, HPAI was confirmed in another commercial meat turkey flock in Otter Tail County, with this one involving 28,500 birds. On that same day, a commercial meat turkey flock in Stearns County was affected, involving 34,200 turkeys.
On November 21, the presence of the virus was confirmed in three commercial flocks in Minnesota. Those included a flock of 78,000 commercial meat turkeys in Big Stone County, a flock of 6,400 commercial turkey breeder hens in Brown County, and 8,400 birds in an unspecified commercial breeder flock in Kandiyohi County.
HPAI was also confirmed in a commercial meat turkey flock in Swift County on November 20. That flock included 134,400 turkeys.
One more HPAI discovery in South Dakota
APHIS reported a new confirmed HPAI infection in South Dakota, with this instance involving a commercial meat turkey operation in Brule County. There were 45,100 birds in that flock.
South Dakota has now had 85 commercial flocks affected by HPAI during the 2022-23 outbreak.
Avian influenza in Canada
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reported that 10 more commercial poultry farms have been affected by HPAI. Nine of those were in British Columbia, while the other was in Alberta.
These new cases were confirmed from November 23 through November 26.
Of the British Columbia cases, five were in Chilliwack, three were in Abbotsford and one was in Langley Township.
The affected Alberta farm was in Lac Ste. Anne County.
CFIA did not reveal the type of poultry operations involved, or how many birds were affected.
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.
