Bird Flu Reduces Thanksgiving Dinners

The United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service website recently confirmed Minnesota's latest highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) case involved another commercial turkey farm in Otter Tail County involving 30,000 turkeys.

According to reporting by Roy Graber on November 16, 2022, this is the seventh HPAI outbreak in Otter Tail County in 2022.

It also marks the 78th case of HPAI in commercial poultry in Minnesota.

South Dakota ranks second with 44 cases of commercial poultry.

Since the Eurasian H5N1 strain first appeared in North America in January 2022, HAPI outbreaks have led to the loss of about 50 million birds in 46 states as of November 16, 2022.

The U.S. CDC says these are the first detections of HPAI A(H5) viruses in the U.S. since 2016.

Avian influenza (Bird Flu) is a disease caused by influenza type A viruses that occur naturally among birds and domestic poultry.

Since 2003, multiple countries have reported more than 860 human infections with HPAI A(H5N1) viruses to the World Health Organization, with about 53% of those cases resulting in fatalities. 

The CDC says the annual flu shot does not protect people from a HAPI infection, but the U.S. government has prepared pandemic influenza vaccines for use in case of an emergency.

Additional avian influenza vaccine information is posted at PrecisionVaccinations.com/AvianInfluenza.