Highly pathogenic avian influenza, which has killed more than 17 million birds in domestic flocks since early February, has been identified in five additional states spanning 2,000 miles, said the Agriculture Department on Wednesday. The viral disease was confirmed in backyard flocks in Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wyoming — the first discovery in each state.
With the confirmations, “high path” bird flu has been found in domestic flocks in 23 states. Wyoming is the farthest west, Maine the farthest east, North Dakota the farthest north, and North Carolina the farthest south.
Iowa, the No. 1 egg state, has had the greatest losses — 8.1 million egg-laying hens, pullets, and turkeys, along with 53 birds in two mixed-species backyard flocks. The state accounts for some 46 percent of the national total.
Three percent of the U.S. flock of laying hens has died in outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza this year. More than 50 million birds, mostly laying hens and turkeys, died in a bird flu epidemic in 2014-15. The epidemic killed 12 percent of the nation’s laying hens and resulted in egg shortages in grocery stores.
The USDA list of bird flu outbreaks is available here.