A commercial table egg laying flock in Franklin County, Washington, has been affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reported that the presence of the virus was confirmed on October 15, and that the affected flock included 839,700.
According to APHIS, the only other instance of an HPAI infection in a commercial poultry operation in Washington during the 2022-24 outbreak was confirmed on December 14, 2022. That also involved a commercial layer operation in Franklin County, with that case involving 1,015,500 birds.
More information on Utah infection
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food (UDAF) earlier reported that HPAI had been confirmed in a commercial egg laying operation in Cache County, Utah. A spokesperson for UDAF said that about 1.8 million hens were involved. APHIS has since included information about the Utah situation on its website, revealing that 1,852,900 hens were involved.
Prior to the Washington and Utah flock infections, the last instance of HPAI in a U.S. commercial poultry flock was confirmed on September 18, in a commercial meat turkey flock in Merced County, California. That case brought to an end a nearly two-month period with no new HPAI detections in U.S. commercial poultry.
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.
