VANCOUVER – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed two more outbreaks of bird flu in small herds: one in southern British Columbia and the other in southeastern Alberta.
An agency statement said the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu was identified on Saturday in Cypress County, Alta., And on Sunday among birds in the Okanagan-Similkameen Regional District in BC.
The BC case came a day after 4,000 turkeys from a Fraser Valley farm had to be euthanized, as bird flu was spotted last week on two commercial poultry farms in the production center. of BC birds of Abbotsford.
Food inspection agency data show that the outbreak is the 12th recorded in BC since the province’s first case on April 13th.
The infection in Cypress County, near Medicine Hat, is the 29th in Alberta, but the first in more than a week.
The agency warns that the so-called bird flu is spreading worldwide and outbreaks have been confirmed in all provinces except Prince Edward Island.
However, only BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec reported new cases in May.
Poultry owners are advised to use strict infection control measures and to take precautions to keep their flocks separate, safe and unable to mix with wild birds, which are believed to be carriers of the virus. .
A wildlife center in central Alberta said last week that it was caring for four young foxes who probably caught bird flu after eating carcasses of birds that died from the disease, and there was concern that more scavengers could get sick.
The food inspection agency said no human cases of bird flu have been detected.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 24, 2022.
The Canadian press