Canada has now had two commercial poultry flocks affected by the H5N2 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
Up until recent weeks, all cases of HPAI in Canadian commercial poultry had involved the H5N1 serotype. However, there are now two exceptions, reported the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
Both H5N2-affected flocks are in Abbotsford, British Columbia, the Canadian municipality that has been hardest hit by HPAI in 2004. The first flock infection of H5N2 there was confirmed on November 8, and the second instance was first reported on November 16.
WOAH reported that there were 28,417 birds susceptible to H5N1, with 122 of them dying and the remainder being depopulated.
The first of the two flocks to be affected was part of a commercial egg laying operation, but WOAH has only identified the second flock as a commercial poultry farm.
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.
