USDA Confirms New 840K H5N1-Affected Layer Operation in Franklin County Washington
Also confirms previously announced 1.8M head flock in Cache County Utah
USDA-APHIS posted 2 new confirmed H5N1 poultry layer flock outbreaks on its website this afternoon:
The Utah outbreak was previously acknowledged by Utah State department of agriculture officials (H5N1 Found in 1.8 million Northern Utah Layer Flock (substack.com).
Here is the official announcement from Washinton State:
News Releases | Washington State Department of Agriculture
Franklin County Washington is located in the southern part of Washington state just above the confluence of the Snake River with the Columbia River, providing an area of fertile irrigated farmland and associated livestock production. Here is a shot from Google Maps showing two closely situated egg layer farms. Numerous dairy operations are located around and between the two facilities.
As with the Utah outbreak, no outbreaks of H5N1 have been reported in dairy herds in the state of Washington. However, should the virus sequences from the poultry outbreak match H5N1 2.3.4.4b B3.13 (dairy) strains, attention should turn to possible epidemiological ties to nearby dairy herds. Any further investigations of neighboring poultry or dairy herds will be under the authority of the Washington state veterinarian. Any health investigations of symptomatic employees at any affected farms will be coordinated by local and state public health officials.
This outbreak once again demonstrates the interconnectedness of our animal health communities when highly infectious diseases threaten multiple species and seem to obtain potential for “area spread”. We can debate the roles of “fomites” and “biosecurity breaches” in spreading infections; however, what I assume to be highly bio-secure egg layer and turkey seedstock operations have been repeatedly infected with B3.13 in multiple states (TX, NM, ID, MI, CO, IA, MN. others?) with proximity to infected dairy herds being the single common factor in all outbreaks. Now in both Utah and WA, we have new infections in herds with proximity to undiagnosed dairy herds. If both of these cases are sequenced as B3.13, it will be incumbent upon state veterinarians to determine whether they follow the lead of Dr. Jeff Kaisand in Iowa to trace back poultry infections into candidate area dairy herds for further investigations. Infection transparency is just part of being good neighbors.
John