The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says it has identified additional outbreaks of avian influenza in Strathroy, Ontario. area, bringing to four the total number declared in the last two weeks.
The most recent outbreak was discovered on Friday after highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, was confirmed at a commercial poultry farm in the region, the CFIA said on its website.
It is not yet clear how many birds may be affected by this most recent outbreak.
It comes two days after an outbreak affecting at least 15,469 turkeys was declared on Wednesday, the CFIA said in a statement.
The CFIA did not provide the name or exact location of the farm affected in that outbreak, but said it was about five kilometers from the two farms affected by outbreaks last week and earlier this week.
Those two previous outbreaks affected approximately 32,000 turkeys and 15,600 turkeys, respectively, according to the CFIA, bringing the total number of birds affected to at least 63,069, a figure that will increase with Friday’s outbreak.
““All affected birds will be depopulated and humanely disposed of in accordance with all necessary provincial requirements,” the CFIA said Friday, adding that no single source had been determined.
The four outbreaks are the only active outbreaks of avian influenza in Ontario.
The CFIA has established two main control zones, PCZ-302 and PCZ-308, for the four outbreaks to prevent spread. Combined, they cover most of Strathroy-Caradoc and parts of Adelaide Metcalfe, Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, Middlesex Center and Southwest Middlesex.
Movements into, out of, within or through the PCZ require a permit in order to move birds, their products and any byproducts, the agency said. When it is determined that the disease is no longer in the affected area, the PCZ can be revoked.
CBC News contacted several poultry associations, but was directed to the Feather Board Command Center (FBCC). which coordinates Ontario’s poultry industry in response to disease risk.
“HPAI is not a food safety issue, it is a bird health issue. As such, we take this issue very seriously and are working with the CFIA and our provincial boards to ensure the health of our birds,” Maggy Watson-Sparks, general manager of the FBCC, said in an emailed statement.
The CFIA says many factors can contribute to the presence of bird flu in an area, including the migration of wild birds, and that the risk to domestic birds increases during the migratory season.
As bird flu cases continue to rise on commercial farms in the Fraser Valley, chicken farmers are scrambling to find ways to protect their animals. As CBC’s Kier Junos reports, this includes testing new technologies to prevent the spread of the disease.
The dominant strain circulating, H5N1, is highly infectious and can spread quickly among a flock of domestic birds, said Beth MacDougall-Shackleton, a biology professor at Western University specializing in disease ecology in migratory birds.
“Once there are some contacts between an infected wild bird, usually a waterfowl like a duck or goose, or someone flying during migration, it can be really problematic if wild birds share the same water bodies as domestic flocks” or share the same food, he said.
“Once it’s there, you really need to eradicate it. Ideally you would want to prevent it from infecting farm animals in the first place, but that requires very strict and careful biosecurity measures,” he said. That includes changing foot covers to avoid bringing feces from infected wild birds onto the farm.
In rare cases, H5N1 can cause illness in humans, and transmission has occurred when people have had close contact with infected birds or highly contaminated environments, such as agricultural workers, the CFIA said.
No human-to-human transmission has been observed, says MacDougall-Shackleton, but that’s always a concern, making it even more important to minimize spread between domestic and wild birds.
Strathroy-Caradoc is home to several major poultry processing companies, including Burnbrae Farms and Cuddy Farms, which is the borough’s largest employer.
In an emailed statement, Burnbrae Farms confirmed that none of the farms sending eggs to the company’s grading station in Strathroy were among those affected by avian influenza.
“It’s something we take very seriously,” said Sue Hudson, senior director of communications and digital marketing at Burnbrae.
An inquiry to Cuddy Farms, which has poultry facilities within the infected zone, was not answered before publication.
The London area has previously seen outbreaks of avian influenza, including one in February at the Middlesex Center that was lifted on May 8.
An outbreak was also declared on Jan. 3 in North Middlesex, while four outbreaks were declared in Zorra Township and two in Strathroy-Caradoc in December.
Since the beginning of 2022, a total of 615 outbreaks have been observed across Canada, affecting approximately 16.6 million birds.
