Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 12/8/15


USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has announced that  Eurasian H5 avian influenza was found in the genetic material collected from a wild duck in Oregon, even as surveillance measures continue.

The APHIS announcement noted that the sample size in Oregon was too small to determine the exact strain of the virus or whether the bird flu virus was high pathogenic or low pathogenic. The hunter-harvested mallard duck was found in November in Morrow County, Ore., the agency reported.

APHIS stressed in the news release that no strains of the high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus that caused the deaths of 48 million birds last spring and summer have been identified in commercial or backyard poultry flocks since June 17. The agency added that it and its partners have tested more than 24,000 samples as part of a program to take samples from more than 40,000 wild birds between July 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016.

The agency also added that it has worked with its partners throughout the fall to establish plans to address any future outbreaks of HPAI following what APHIS described as “the largest animal health emergency in the country’s history.”

* The headline on this item was updated to clarify that the AI strain has not been identified as either low- or high-pathogen.

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