News

Weather, migratory activity affecting H5N1 spread

An animal disease specialist says the recent uptick in avian influenza outbreaks is in part due to the milder winter weather.

Dr. Keith Poulsen with the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Center tells Brownfield many lakes and ponds have not frozen, so some wild birds are not migrating south as early as they normally would, putting more domestic poultry at risk. “So, we’re seeing a lot of Canada geese that are coming down into poultry, and we’re seeing more in Louisiana and some of our other southern flyways.”

Poulsen says nationally, there have been more H5N1 infected flocks recently. “The southern part of the United States, they’re not out of the woods yet. We did see some broiler flocks in the southeast. Again, those are all spillover from migratory birds.”

Poulsen says the poultry cases are not the B3.13 strain that has been affecting dairy cows in several states.

USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says nationwide, 63 commercial flocks and 54 backyard flocks have been affected in the past 30 days, impacting nearly 13 million birds.

APHIS Breakdown of HPAI poultry cases in the last 30 days by state (as of 1/8/25):

5 in Minnesota (3 commercial/2backyard)

11 in South Dakota (9 commercial/2 backyard)

3 in Wisconsin (2 commercial/1 backyard)

8 in Iowa (6 commercial/2 backyard)

4 in Nebraska (1 commercial/3 backyard)

7 in Kansas (2 commercial/5 backyard)

11 in Illinois (2 commercial/9 backyard)

8 in Missouri (2 commercial/6 backyard)

2 in Illinois (2 commercial/0 backyard)

7 in Arkansas (1 commercial/6 backyard)

1 in Indiana (1 commercial/0 backyard)

7 in Michigan (6 commercial/1 backyard)

2 in Ohio (1 commercial/1 backyard)

2 in Mississippi (2 commercial/0 backyard)

2 in Alabama (1 commercial/1 backyard)

22 in California (19 commercial/2 backyard)

1 in North Carolina (1 commercial/0 backyard)

1 in South Carolina (1 commercial/0 backyard)

1 in Louisiana (0 commercial/1 backyard)

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published.


 

Stay Up to Date

Subscribe for our newsletter today and receive relevant news straight to your inbox!