In the last two days, additional Avian Flu (bird flu) outbreaks have been confirmed in poultry farms in nine states. One of the outbreaks hit a large Pennsylvania farm housing almost 2 million egg-laying chickens. Egg producing operations have been decimated in multiple states over the last few months, contributing to egg supply shortages and record-high prices. Supply problems are expected to worsen as a result of these new bird flu cases. Broiler chicken prices have also surged amid the ongoing bird flu crisis. A 30,000-bird broiler operation Pennsylvania’s Cumberland County was also among the facilities to suffer outbreaks this week.
In Ohio, Avian flu struck nine additional commercial farms: specifically, six turkey farms, two egg-layer farms and a layer pullet farm. Maryland and California also reported bird flu cases at poultry farms. The virus also infected backyard flocks in 5 states: Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Kansas.
Since the outbreaks started hitting domesticated flocks in 2022, an unprecedented 156 million birds have died across all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico.
Full Story: CIDRAP
