Highly pathogenic avian influenza has hit South Dakota hard this month, infecting about 420,000 birds, according to the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The HPAI virus has been confirmed in eight commercial flocks and one backyard flock in the state. The state's total accounts for half of all infected flocks in the U.S. in the last 30 days, but about 77% of the infected birds. The other states hit in the last 30 days are North Dakota (101,500 birds) and Minnesota (25,000).
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The latest outbreak in birds started in the U.S. in February 2022. Last year, dairy cows became infected. HPAI causes severe illness and high mortality rates in both commercial and backyard poultry, leading to devastating losses for farmers and producers, who must euthanize their flocks.
Bird owners are being stressed to practice strong biosecurity as detection is expected to rise in the fall with wild birds migrating to their seasonal homes.
