October 12, 2023
Bird flu's return induces fears of more outbreaks among US poultry flocks
Highly pathogenic bird flu has made its first appearances in US commercial poultry flocks this season, affecting one turkey farm in South Dakota and one in Utah, raising concerns that more outbreaks could follow.
The United States Department of Agriculture reported that avian influenza, which is deadly to commercial poultry, was confirmed in a flock of 47,300 turkeys in Jerauld County, South Dakota, on October 4 and at a farm with 141,800 birds in Utah's Sanpete County on October 6.
The outbreaks are the first reported among commercial flocks in the US since the disease struck two turkey farms in the Dakotas in April. Infected flocks are normally destroyed to prevent the flu's spread, and then the farms are decontaminated.
Before last week, the only reports of bird flu in recent months in the US in recent months were sporadic appearances in backyard flocks or among wild birds such as ducks, geese and eagles. While wild birds often show no symptoms of avian influenza, infections in them are a concern to the poultry industry as migrating birds can spread the disease to vulnerable commercial flocks.
"I don't doubt that we will have more cases," South Dakota State Veterinarian Beth Thompson said. "I would be very pleasantly surprised if we're done because migration is just starting."
Bird flu last year cost US poultry producers nearly 59 million birds across 47 US states, including egg-laying chickens and turkeys and chickens raised for meat, making it the country's deadliest outbreak ever, according to USDA figures.
Agriculture officials consider this year's cases to be part of last year's outbreak, which reached the US in February 2022 after spreading in Europe. The US has imposed periodic restrictions on poultry imports from Europe to limit the potential for spread. Thompson said the virus never completely went away, unlike in 2015, and that the type now circulating is essentially the same that spread last year.
- AP News
