Meeker County, Minnesota, is the site of another commercial turkey flock to be affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
The latest confirmed case involved a flock of about 72,100 turkeys, according to information from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health (MBOH) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). That case was confirmed on October 13.
Two days earlier, another flock in Meeker County was affected by HPAI, with this flock including about 115,000 commercial turkeys.
The sites have been quarantined, and the birds on the premises were depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease.
The two Meeker County cases are the only two commercial poultry operations in Minnesota to have been impacted by HPAI to date in 2023. However, Minnesota had more commercial poultry farms affected by HPAI than any other state in 2022, with 81.
So far in 2023, 12 states have had HPAI detections in commercial poultry or upland gamebird operations. Those are: Minnesota, Utah, South Dakota, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, California, Iowa, Virginia and Tennessee.
However, only Minnesota, Utah, and South Dakota have had detections of HPAI in commercial flocks since April.
Update on Canadian cases
Additional information concerning two previously reported HPAI cases in Canada has been released by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in September reported outbreaks in Strathcona County, Alberta, and Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. However, the agency did not offer details on the type of flocks or number of birds involved.
According to a report from WOAH, dated October 16, the Strathcona County case involved a mixed flock of commercial meat turkeys and broilers and a total of 53,600 birds were affected. The Maple Creek case involved 9,180 commercial broilers.
The last time HPAI was confirmed in a commercial poultry flock in Canada was October 6, when a flock in Greenview, Alberta was affected. However, CFIA did report a backyard flock infection in Parkland County, Alberta, on October 11.
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.
