Canada & California Report New Outbreaks of H5N1 In Poultry

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Since our last update on Wednesday, California has added 5 more outbreaks of HPAI H5 in poultry, and Canada - through their CFIA - is reporting 4 more outbreaks in British Columbia.   After more than a 6 month lull without reporting any outbreaks, Canada has reported 11 over the past 10 days. 

California has reported 5 new outbreaks, although the size of these farms are not yet provided on the USDA site.

According to a brief statement (below) from the USDA, we now know that the Oregon poultry & swine outbreak of H5N1 was due to genotype D1.2, while last week we learned that the Washington state outbreak (and spillover into humans) was from genotype D1.1. 

Additionally, the recent outbreak in poultry in Utah was from the bovine B3.13 genotype, which is primarily associated with cattle. 

A reminder that there are already dozens of genotypes of H5N1 circulating in wild birds, poultry, and mammals around the globe - and thanks to reassortment, new ones continue to emerge - all of which are on their own evolutionary path.   

While most of these reassortments are destined to become evolutionary failures - unable to compete with existing strains - every once in a while a more biologically `fit' virus emerges.  

And the longer we allow H5N1 to circulate unchecked in livestock, the better chance there is of that happening.