On Thursday, the Agriculture Department confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a non-commercial backyard flock in southwestern Michigan, the seventh state with the viral disease in a domestic flock in a little over two weeks. “High path” bird flu can spread quickly, so agricultural officials take quick and ruthless steps to stop it.
Thirteen cases of HPAI have been reported in commercial and backyard flocks in seven states since the first U.S. outbreak in two years was announced on Feb. 8. Five of the outbreaks have been in Indiana, the fourth-largest turkey-producing state. Two cases were confirmed in Kentucky and one each in Maine, Delaware, Virginia, New York, and Michigan. Eight of the outbreaks were on turkey and chicken farms.
“There are a handful of states that are involved. This is significantly less at this point in time than what we experienced a number of years ago that did have an impact on egg prices and did have an impact on supply,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, referring to the HPAI epidemic that killed 50 million birds, mostly laying hens and turkeys, in 2014 and 2015.
Nearly 155,000 turkeys have been culled in Indiana as part of efforts to stamp out HPAI. Bird flu was confirmed in a backyard flock in Kalamazoo County in Michigan after several birds died and others showed signs of illness, said the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. “At this time, this is an isolated case,” said director Gary McDowell.