The avian influenza outbreak has hit the Prairies after being found in three flocks in Alberta on Wednesday.
The discovery comes on the heels of two weeks of spreading across southern Ontario with the East Coast reporting cases earlier this year.
The three Alberta flocks — two in Mountain View County and one in Ponoka County — were confirmed to have cases of the highly infectious bird flu on April 6.
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Poultry producers in southern Ontario have been facing a spread of avian influenza that has been found on 10 farms in a little more than a week as of Friday and has now been detected in wild fowl in Quebec.
The latest infections come on top of six farms reporting bird flu cases in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador between December and March. It also follows the Canadian Food Inspection Agency restricting imports of live birds from 11 U.S. states to try to stem the spread of the highly infectious pathogen.
“It’s significant,” Lisa Bishop-Spencer, Chicken Farmers of Canada communications director, said about the current spread of the bird flu.
“If not controlled, it will wipe a flock out and spread to the next one.”
The first confirmed cases of avian influenza in Canada were identified in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland in 2004, and there have been localized instances since then.
Bishop-Spencer said chicken farmers have learned a lot about the bird flu since then and have prepared for future outbreaks, but the number of cases and spread of the disease is far more prevalent this year.
“We’ve only had it in one province in a year,” she said.
“This time it’s Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and we are seeing it in wild birds all over.”
Bishop-Spencer stressed chicken products continue to be safe for consumption, and the risk for cross infections with humans is low.
As of Thursday, the CFIA is reporting 10 farms with confirmed infections in southern Ontario: seven in commercial poultry flocks and three on small, local operations.
Wednesday also saw the CFIA expand its infected and primary control zone designations for poultry operations located near Kitchener and Woodstock, Ont.
On March 24, the CFIA issued a notice to the industry of restrictions of live birds, bird products and byproducts from U.S. states that have been affected by avian influenza.
Those include Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
Contact alex.mccuaig@producer.com
