By Wayne Martin, Extension Educator, Alternative Livestock and Abby Schuft, Extension Educator, Poultry History of avian influenza Researchers found highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in 1878. They discerned it from other poultry diseases that shared a high death rate. Current evidence suggests that HPAI changed over time. Strains before 1996 had a low risk of causing disease. Later, strains appeared more often and affected millions of chickens and other poultry. HPAI Outbreak of 2014 – 2015 In 2014 – 2015, HPAI hit North America, which led to the loss of almost 50 million chickens and turkeys. The outbreak began on the west coast and moved through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. Highly pathogenic avian influenza affected only one commercial flock on the west coast. The other cases occurred in what were considered “backyard” poultry flocks, which included a pheasant farm with over 5,000 birds. Highly pathogenic avian influenza arrived in the Midwest in Mar
By Carol Cardona, Professor and Pomeroy Chair in Avian Health for the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota The news of a Eurasian strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detection in a flock of birds of mixed species on the East coast of Canada greatly increases the possibility of HPAI coming to Minnesota. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans have prevented the movement of HPAI circulating in Asia and Europe from coming to the Americas. Now that the biggest barrier has been breached, the risk of HPAI in the US has greatly increased. The sequence of the hemagglutinin gene (the H in H5N1) from this case has been classified as a member of clade 2.3.4.4B of the goose Guandong lineage. That means that this gene is related to the virus that caused the 2014-2015 HPAI outbreak (which was a clade 2.3.4.4 virus of the goose Guandong lineage). The goose Guandong family of viruses has spread previously in wild birds. Although we don’t know how a clade 2.3.4.4B HPAI viru