The United States is stepping up surveillance of wild birds
following the discovery of two birds infected with the same H5N2 avian
influenza that has broken out in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia.
The U.S. discovery was in Washington State, next to the
Fraser Valley.
Canadians have lost more than 300,000 turkeys, ducks,
broilers and hatching egg chicken flocks from 10 farms hit by outbreak within
the last 10 days.
Most of those losses are from deliberate slaughter to stop
the spread of the disease.
Infected farms and those within five kilometers are under
strict quarantine preventing the movement of any poultry out of the area.
The entire Southern British Columbia is under restricted
movements among poultry operations.
U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have said
that the highly pathogenic H5N2 and H5N8 avian flu strains have been confirmed
in Northern Pintail ducks (left) and captive Gyrfalcons, respectively, in
Whatcom County in Washington State.
There have also been reports of avian influenza
in Mexico, so there is speculation that migrating waterfowl are the source.
