HPAI continues to spread, hitting operations in Illinois and South Dakota

New outbreaks of High Pathogenic Avian Influenza have been reported in the U.S., this time in Illinois.

This week, 8,000 game birds were infected at a commercial facility. Health officials say the virus had not been seen in the state since the spring.

Further West, nearly 200,000 birds were lost after an outbreak at a commercial turkey facility in South Dakota. Operations in that state were hit hard in November with nearly half a million birds lost due to the virus.

So far this year, 52.7 million birds have been lost due to HPAI.

South Dakota State Veterinarian, Beth Thompson spoke with RFD-TV’s own Janet Adkison about the type of loss the region has seen, if she was surprised that this outbreak is worse than 2015, and what she is hearing from producers.

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