The U.S. Department of Agriculture has identified traces of highly pathogenic bird flu in commercial poultry flocks in South Dakota and Utah , a development that raises concerns about potential future outbreaks across the country.
To date, the virus has been detected in 328 commercial flocks and 516 backyard flocks in the United States, affecting a total of 58.97 million birds nationwide. Backyard flocks typically consist of 1,000 or fewer birds, while commercial flocks exceed this number, according to the USDA.
On October 4, officials in South Dakota confirmed the presence of bird flu in a commercial turkey flock located in Jerauld County. This outbreak is estimated to have impacted more than 47,000 poultry, all of which will need to be culled. The culling of infected flocks is done to prevent the further spread of the virus.
“I don’t doubt that we will have more cases,” stated South Dakota State Veterinarian Beth Thompson in an interview with The Associated Press. She added, “I would be very pleasantly surprised if we’re done because migration is just starting.”
Just two days later, officials confirmed the presence of bird flu in another commercial flock, this time comprising 134,200 turkeys in Sanpete County, Utah.
These recent detections mark the first cases of bird flu in a U.S. commercial flock since April, when the virus was confirmed in a turkey farm in Beadle County with over 75,000 birds and a 58,500-head turkey farm in North Dakota, both on the same day.
Prior to the cases in October, the most recent reports of bird flu in the United States were sporadic and primarily limited to backyard flocks or wild birds, as noted by the AP. Although wild birds frequently do not exhibit symptoms of avian influenza, infections in these birds are concerning to the poultry industry due to the potential for migrating birds to spread the disease to susceptible commercial flocks.
This year, the virus has been identified in three commercial bird farms in South Dakota, leading to the culling of over 123,000 birds. Since the beginning of the current outbreak, more than 4 million birds have been impacted in the state. commercial poultry flocks
Interestingly, virus detections in South Dakota have predominantly affected commercial flocks with fewer than 100,000 birds. However, in December, Dakota Layers, a commercial egg-laying operation based in Flandreau, had to cull 1.35 million hens after bird flu was found on their premises. This marked the 13th largest depopulation event since the onset of the current outbreak.