A commercial egg laying flock and a commercial meat turkey flock are Iowa’s most recent losses to highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported that the presence of HPAI was confirmed in both flocks on December 11.
The turkey flock was in Palo Alto County and involved 50,000 birds, while layer flock was in Sioux County and involved 1.6 million hens.
This is the second layer flock in Sioux County to be affected by HPAI in recent days. Another layer flock in the county was confirmed as HPAI-infected on December 6.
So far in 2024, Iowa has lost six commercial poultry flocks to HPAI. Half of those have involved turkeys and the other half has involved laying hens. According to APHIS, those flocks collectively included 10,283,500 birds.
Also on December 11, APHIS reported that a commercial meat turkey flock in Brule County, South Dakota, had been affected by HPAI, but the agency has not yet disclosed the size of that flock. South Dakota has now lost 15 commercial poultry flocks to HPAI in 2024.
California update
APHIS previously reported that the presence of HPAI was confirmed in a commercial duck breeding flock in Stanislaus County, California, on December 10. When the agency initially reported that situation, it did not include the number of birds involved. The APHIS website has since been updated to state that 78,100 ducks were in the flock.
Canada loses 60th flock to HPAI in 2024
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reported that another commercial poultry flock in Chilliwack, British Columbia, has been affected by HPAI. The agency did not disclose the type of birds involved or the size of the flock.
British Columbia has now had 49 commercial poultry flocks affected by HPAI in 2024, 16 of which have been in Chilliwack.
As a whole, Canada has lost 60 commercial poultry flocks so far in 2024.
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.
