Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Avian flu prompts 44 quarantines


 

Avian flu has hit poultry farmers in British Columbia and Alberta hard this month.


The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reports 29 outbreaks in British Columbia, many of them in the crowded Lower Fraser Valley around Chlliwack and Abbotsford.


Alberta has had nine outbreaks this month.


The disease first arrives in poop from migrating waterflowl, but then can spread from flock to flock as people and vehicles move around.


So far this year 9,648,500 birds have been lost and there have been 48 outbreaks in British Columbia, 17 in Alberta, two in Manitoba, one in Ontario, three in Quebec and 10 in Saskatchewan for a total of 81 still under quarantine.


There are 322 premises that were previously infected and released from quarantine since highly-pathogenic avian influenza first hit across Canada.