On March 25, 2024, a mystery illness that had been impacting dairy herds in the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Kansas was officially diagnosed as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Also known as bird flu, the same strain has been affecting the U.S. poultry flock for the past two years. The Farm Journal team is tracking the HPAI cases to keep you aware of any changes while providing information you can use to elevate your knowledge and what the evolving dynamics could mean to your operation.
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)
On March 25, 2024, a mystery illness that had been impacting dairy herds in the Texas Panhandle, New Mexico and Kansas was officially diagnosed as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Also known as bird flu, the same strain has been affecting the U.S. poultry flock for the past two years. The Dairy Herd team is tracking the HPAI cases to keep you aware of any changes while providing information you can use to elevate your knowledge and what the evolving dynamics could mean to your operation.
A new report details the need for more ag funding to address existing weeds, insects and diseases as well as agronomic problems that have yet to reach U.S. shores.
“We typically don’t see avian influenza until January or February,” says Rebecca Eifert Joniskan, president of the Indiana State Poultry Association. “This year we started October 9.”
Megin Nichols, the CDC’s director in the division of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases, explains the ties between human, animal and environmental health.
SHIC, FFAR and Pork Checkoff award $2.1 million to projects driving action for emerging disease prevention, preparedness, mitigation and response for the U.S. swine industry.
Although H5N1 is not in the commercial swine herd yet, the swine industry is working to find answers to the hard questions. How can we prevent it? How can we mitigate it? If it does come, what will it look like in pigs?
NPPC’s Director of Animal Health Anna Forseth shares why developing a H5N1 response plan for the swine industry and establishing the National Swine Health Strategy have been two major priorities for the industry this year.
Since Brazil confirmed the country’s first HPAI outbreak, others like China and now the European Union have suspended poultry imports.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza is now endemic in waterfowl, reassorting and circulating this foreign animal disease that poses an undeniable challenge for the U.S. livestock and poultry industries.
H5N1 is different than other new swine disease outbreaks because USDA has jurisdiction over H5 in any animal, so they have the regulatory authority, says Scanlon Daniels, DVM.
USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins says the agency is hyper-focused on poultry, but no vaccine is yet available. The agency has ‘separate work streams’ to address the virus in the ‘cattle and dairy’ industries, but dairy is not part of USDA’s primary focus for now.
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins confirms those payments will be released before the March 21 current deadline in an exclusive interview with Farm Journal on Thursday morning. She also outlined the timing of the $1 billion just announced to combat avian flu.
The plan, announced by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, dedicates up to $500 million to help poultry producers implement biosecurity measures and up to $400 million in financial relief for farmers whose flocks are affected by avian flu.
USDA is working to get more eggs into the supply chain in the short-term, but U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says a team is focused on coming up with a long-term strategy to combat avian flu.
Spearheaded by National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, the plan prioritizes enhanced biosecurity measures and medication to control the spread of the virus and moves away from mass culling of infected flocks.
Sec. Mike Naig says the U.S. government is using what he describes as a three-legged stool approach to address the virus in the dairy and poultry industries.
2024 was a year that confronted APHIS with new challenges, forcing the agency to find new and creative solutions to animal and plant health threats, says APHIS Administrator Michael Watson.
The increased use of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) to treat pyrexia and pain in dairy cattle infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 prompted FDA to issue a warning to producers and veterinarians in October.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Jan. 3 that it will award $306 million to continue its H5N1 Avian Flu response.
Biosecurity New Zealand has placed strict movement controls on a commercial rural Otago egg farm, after testing confirmed a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza in chickens.
Research priorities for H5N1 are designed to further strengthen U.S. swine industry prevention and preparedness as well as inform response efforts should H5N1 be introduced into the commercial swine herd.
Bird flu has infected three more people from Washington state after they were exposed to poultry that tested positive for the virus, according to health authorities in Washington and in Oregon, where the human cases were identified.
In a special report of The PORK Podcast, Andrew Bowman, DVM, tackles some of host Jennifer Shike’s questions about USDA’s announcement that H5N1 was discovered in a pig for the first time ever.
USDA announced on Oct. 30 the first reported case of H5N1 in a pig in an Oregon backyard farm.
With recent outbreaks of H5 influenza in poultry and dairy populations, what is the impact on “secure” plans for the livestock sector?
Now that the mystery illness impacting some dairy herds has been revealed as the same strain of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza that has been impacting the U.S. poultry flock, pork producers are asking questions.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that a human case of bird flu has been confirmed in Texas and identified in a person who had direct exposure to dairy cattle presumed to be infected with the disease.
Ohio has become the sixth state where dairy cattle have tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), also known as bird flu.