Iowa, New York, and South Dakota reported more highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks in poultry, most of them involving commercial flocks.
The spread of the Eurasian H5N1 strain, which first appeared in North American wild birds in January, has affected poultry in 17 states and led to the loss of at least 13.6 million birds.
In international developments, the Philippines reported its first outbreak in poultry involving the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain.
Virus gains bigger foothold in already affected states
Iowa's Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) yesterday reported the state's sixth outbreaks in poultry flocks, and the third in Buena Vista County, which is in the northwestern part of the state. The latest event struck a commercial turkey farm.
"This is a difficult time for poultry producers as HPAI continues to impact farms across Iowa and the United States," said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.
Meanwhile, New York reported its fourth outbreak, which hit a commercial game production farm housing 4,000 birds in Suffolk County, located on the eastern half of Long Island, according to an update from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
The virus hit 3 more farms in South Dakota, raising the state's outbreak total to 11 affected farms.
Two of the outbreaks occurred at commercial turkey farms, one housing 31,730 in Edmunds County in the north central part of the state and the other in Beadle County at a facility that keeps 50,000 birds. The third outbreak occurred at a commercial layer farm in Kingsbury County that has 124,000 susceptible chickens.
The latest outbreaks push the number of US poultry events to 60.
H5N8 appears in Philippines poultry
In the Philippines, animal health officials reported H5N8 in poultry for the first time, according to Mar 23 notification from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
The event began on Feb 28 at a duck farm housing 2,730 birds in Pampagna Province, located northwest of Manila. So far, the source of the virus hasn't been determined.
