The steady pace of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks at commercial poultry farms and in backyard flocks continues, with the virus striking 11 more commercial farms across seven states, according to updates over the past few days from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Affected premises include two broiler farms in Arkansas; more turkey farms in Ohio, Minnesota, and South Dakota; and a duck farm and a layer farm in California. Colorado and North Dakota also reported more outbreaks at commercial farms. Also, the virus hit backyard poultry in seven states, including Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, and South Dakota.
Since H5N1 first turned up in US poultry in early 2022, the outbreaks have led to the loss of a record 68.4 million poultry across 47 states. In the past 30 days alone, the virus has fueled outbreaks in 24 states.