The highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza virus was confirmed in a commercial turkey flock in Stanislaus County, in the heavily agricultural Central Valley of California, said the Agriculture Department. “This is the first finding of HPAI in commercial poultry during the ongoing disease incident in the Pacific Flyway,” it said. The state Agriculture Department quarantined the facility. All the birds will be destroyed as a safeguard against spread of the virus, which has a high mortality rate. “H5N8 has not been shown to present a health risk to the public,” said USDA, and no human cases have been reported.
Following the outbreak, USDA and state agriculture officials put additional surveillance on flocks near the infected facility. “The H5N8 virus originated in Asia and spread rapidly along wild bird migratory pathways during 2014, including the Pacific flyway,” said USDA. Europe also experienced outbreaks of the H5N8 virus in poultry flocks in the fall.