Third Indiana turkey flock depopulated after HPAI discovery

Indiana reported an additional case of avian influenza Tuesday night, half a mile from the initial case reported February 8. Another commercial turkey operation tested positive during the state’s routine quarantine procedures enacted because of the February 8 case. Read the full story from Successful Farming here. 

Indiana said a third flock of commercial turkeys in the southern part of the state has been depopulated after highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was discovered, bringing to 103,000 the total number of birds culled in the state.

The new HPAI finding, in commercial turkeys in Greene County, follows outbreaks on two turkey farms in Dubois County in recent days. Confirmation of the Greene County test results by USDA is pending, according to the Indiana State Board of Health.

The initial discovery of H5N1 avian flu in Dubois County earlier this month marked the first confirmed case of HPAI in commercial poultry in the United States since 2020. HPAI was last identified in commercial flocks in Indiana in 2016, the state said.

Indiana's poultry industry ranks third nationally in turkey production.
Tyson Foods this week confirmed that an HPAI outbreak in commercial chickens in Fulton County, Ky., involved about 240,000 of the company's birds.

The findings in commercial flocks have prompted multiple countries, including Mexico and China, to restrict poultry meat imports from those states.
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HPAI also has been detected in hundreds of wild birds along the U.S. East Coast this winter, from New Hampshire to Florida, as well as in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in Canada.