The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) posted an update on its website on April 5 stating that the sixth herd in Ontario had been confirmed. In this case, it was a backyard herd in the Township of Center Wellington. These birds, along with all other HPAI cases in Ontario poultry, were infected with an extremely pathogenic variant of the H5N1 virus. The first three confirmed cases of HPAI in Ontario were all in commercial poultry flocks. This happened in the municipality of Guelph / Eramosa, in the Township of Zorra and in the Township of Woolwich. The Guelph / Eramosa and Zorra cases were both in commercial turkey flocks, but the CFIA has not yet revealed which species is involved in the Woolwich flock. The previous two cases of yard poultry have occurred in the Township of Selwyn and the Township of Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation. Every contaminated area has been quarantined. The CFIA has introduced traffic control measures and recommends enhanced biosecurity for other farms in the area. The only other Canadian province with an confirmed HPAI case is Nova Scotia, where a swarm of 11,800 commercial turkeys has been infected. Other counties where HPAI has been confirmed are Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia. However, with the exception of one show farm, all of these cases were in either backyard flocks or wild birds. South of the Canadian border, HPAI has been certified in commercial poultry in the following U.S. states: North Dakota, Kentucky, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Indiana, North Carolina, and Texas. The Texas case involved pheasants. To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in North America, see an interactive map at WATTPoultry.com. Read the ongoing coverage of the global bird flu epidemic.
