According to Follow-up Report No.12 dated 15 April to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) from the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), there have been 11 new outbreaks of H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza since the previous report dated 8 April.

In total, 978,379 birds were involved, 280,939 of which have been destroyed.

Ten of the outbreaks were in commercial turkeys; the other was on a farm of 200,000 laying hens.

The majority of the outbreaks (six) were in Minnesota but also affected were South Dakota (two outbreaks) and one outbreak each in Tennessee, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

In the report, APHIS adds it, in conjunction with State Departments of Agriculture and Wildlife, are continuing to conduct a comprehensive epidemiological investigation and enhanced surveillance (including wild bird surveillance of hunter harvested birds) in response to the HPAI H5N8 and H5N2 wild bird related events.

Novel avian influenza virus of Eurasian origin (EA-H5N8 clade 2.3.4.4) spread rapidly along wild bird migratory pathways during 2014. Introduction of this EA-H5N8 virus into the Pacific Flyway sometime during 2014 has allowed mixing with North American (AM) lineage viruses and generated new combinations with genes from both EA and AM origin (or “reassortant” viruses) such as this EA/AM H5N2-reassortant detected in the US. In addition, overlap of the Pacific, Central, and Mississippi Americas flyways has resulted in movement of the virus to the central part of the country. The EA-H5 clade 2.3.4.4 viruses are highly pathogenic for poultry.

Further Reading

You can visit the Avian Flu page by clicking here.