The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported that two more commercial poultry flocks have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
On the same day, APHIS offered additional details concerning a previously announced detection of HPAI in Weld County, Colorado.
New flock infections in Minnesota
According to APHIS, the presence of HPAI was confirmed in two commercial turkey breeder hen flocks on July 9, with both of those flocks in Minnesota.
One flock was in Kandiyohi County and involved 21,900 birds. The other was in Renville County and involved 15,400 birds.
With these two new instances of HPAI, Minnesota has now had 17 commercial poultry flocks struck by the virus in 2024, but this is the first time this year that flocks in Kandiyohi and Renville counties have been affected. Other Minnesota to have confirmed cases of HPAI in commercial poultry this year are Otter Tail, Swift, Pipestone, Stearns, Lyon, Meeker, Morrison and Dodge.
No state has had more flocks struck by HPAI during the 2022-24 outbreak. In 2022, virus appeared in 81 flocks, and in 2023, it appeared in 34 flocks.
Update on HPAI situation in Colorado
APHIS earlier revealed that a commercial laying hen operation in Weld County, Colorado, became the site of a confirmed HPAI infection, but did not release details concerning how large the flock was.
According to updated information on the APHIS website, that flock involved 1,790,800 birds.
Colorado has had two commercial poultry flocks affected by HPAI in 2024. The first of those was confirmed in February and involved a commercial broiler breeder flock in Delta County.
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.
