Tests identifies H5N9 Aviary Influenza on California Duck Farm

Very pathogenic H5N9 -Aviar influenza has been identified for the first time in us poultry at a duck meat yard in California that experienced an outbreak in November 2024, according to a notification Today from the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).

Both H5N9 and H5N1 were detected at Duck Farm in Merced County, according to testing by the US Ministry of Agriculture (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory. The event began on November 23 with clinical signs that included increased deaths in the ducks.

State officials quantified the affected farm, and a disappointing operation of the plant’s nearly 119,000 birds was completed on December 2nd. Researchers with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), state partners and wildlife officials conduct a comprehensive epidemiological study.

Angela Rasmussen, PhD, a virologist at Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said on x Today, H5N9 detection suggests competition of circulating H5N1 -Vira with avian influenza -virus containing N9 -Neuraminidase (NA). She added that replication in coin -ficed hosts can produce unpredictable new audit vira.

She said that Ducks will not be very ill by many aviary influenza, which can make them big hosts to Revision Vira. As they can still fly, eat and interfere while infected, they can transmit the repportant virus to new hosts where the virus continues to adapt along the way.

Although the risk of guided flu virus for humans is unclear, they can overcome with human flu virus, Rasmussen added. She emphasized that it is crucial to keeping H5N1 out of pig, given that they are susceptible to human and other flu viruses, including reorortants.

Outbreaks in poultry in 11 states, cows in California

In an update that covers the past few days, APHIS reported more more H5N1 detections in poultry Flocks, both commercial and backyard, including several in the northeast.

In events that could aggravate egg deficiency, several layers of layers in Lags in Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Washington were reported, a total of at least 1.5 million birds. The virus also hit turkey holdings in Minnesota and Ohio as well as broiler bricks in Arkansas and Missouri.

The virus also appeared in the backyard flocks of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and California.

APHIS also confirmed 6 H5N1 -Detections in Dairy crewsEveryone in California, and raised the national total amount to 943 and California’s total amount to 726.