#16,657
Yesterday the USDA announced that the detection of HPAI H5 two flocks (1 commercial, 1 backyard non-poultry) in Minnesota, bringing the number of states reporting the virus in captive birds to 18, with an additional 9 states reporting the virus in wild birds.
The USDA differentiates between the two based on the following criteria:
Non-poultry: Birds that are kept in a single household, the products of which are used within the same household exclusively, are not considered poultry, if they have no direct or indirect contact with poultry or poultry facilities.1
Poultry: All birds reared or kept in captivity to produce any commercial animal products or for breeding for this purpose, fighting cocks used for any purpose, and all birds used for restocking supplies of game or for breeding for this purpose, until they are released from captivity
`Non-poultry' could also include ornamental or recreational birds (including some types of chickens).
The following comes from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health.
2022 HPAI Background
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed several findings of the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in wild waterfowl in the Atlantic flyways in January 2022. On February 8, 2022 APHIS confirmed H5N1 HPAI in a commercial turkey flock in Dubois County, Indiana. Since then it has been confirmed in multiple states and flock types. The USDA updates the latest HPAI detections on its website.
The first cases of H5N1 in Minnesota were confirmed on March 25, 2022.
The virus has not caused human illness. According to the CDC, Recent Bird Flu Infections in U.S. Wild Birds and Poultry Pose a Low Risk to the Public.
Federal and State partners are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in the nearby area, following existing avian influenza response plans. During a HPAI event in Minnesota, a response zone is created around the infected premises in order to control movement and establish an area for testing and surveillance protocols to be carried out.
The United States has the strongest AI surveillance program in the world, and USDA is working with its partners to actively look for the disease in poultry operations, live bird markets, and in migratory wild bird populations. Visit the USDA’s avian health web page for more information.
Commercial poultry producers and backyard flock owners should continue to practice strict biosecurity; most importantly, preventing their birds from exposure to wild waterfowl.
Although losses have not been as severe as we saw in 2015's avian epizootic, in terms of the number of states affected (see map below), this is the largest incursion of avian influenza into the United States on record.
Unexpectedly HPAI H5 did not return to North America in the fall of 2015 (see PNAS: The Enigma Of Disappearing HPAI H5 In North American Migratory Waterfowl). Since then, HPAI EA H5Nx has reinvented itself through multiple reassortment events, and - at least in Europe and Asia - appears to be better adapted for long-term carriage by migratory birds.During the last American epizootic, outbreaks continued well into June, meaning that this outbreak could have several more months to go.
The $64 question (to which I have no answer), is whether this new and improved HPAI H5 virus will become endemic in North American birds, as it has in Europe and Asia since 2016.
While the far west has been spared so far, as birds begin their spring migration to their northern roosting grounds, this virus will probably be carried with them. Which means anyone in the United States raising poultry or backyard birds should be focused on keeping this virus out of their flocks.
