The latest blow to the US commercial poultry industry comes as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) rears its head once again, this time in a commercial meat turkey flock in South Dakota. With 31,200 birds affected, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the presence of HPAI in Hutchinson County on March 12.
This incident breaks a three-week lull in new HPAI detections in commercial poultry, following the last confirmed cases on February 21 in Dallas County, Missouri. Those cases involved three commercial poultry flocks totaling 71,800 turkeys. Notably, APHIS initially classified another case in Dallas County on February 23 as a commercial flock of 20,300 table egg layers, later reclassifying it as WOAH (World Organisation for Animal Health) Poultry, akin to backyard poultry flocks.
While this is the first instance of HPAI in a commercial poultry flock in South Dakota this year, it marks the third commercial flock lost to the virus in the state in 2024. Previously, two commercial upland gamebird operations in Edmunds County and Spink County fell victim to HPAI in January.
South Dakota’s unfortunate history with HPAI includes ranking first in the number of commercial flocks affected in 2023, with 36 flocks succumbing to the virus. In 2022, the state trailed only Minnesota, with 61 flocks affected compared to Minnesota’s 81.
In response to these recurring outbreaks, South Dakota Senators Mike Rounds and John Thune urged U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai in January to consider implementing an avian influenza vaccination program.
