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HPAI updates from BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food Office of the Chief Veterinarian
September 16, 2024
This update is from the Chief Veterinarian, Ministry of Agriculture and Food:
There are a few updates around Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that we wanted to share with BC food animal veterinarians as we get into the fall HPAI risk season for BC.
- CFIA will begin testing of samples from milk truck loads at one BC milk processing plant this week, with expansion to other BC plants expected to follow. Testing began in eastern Canada on August 19th, and all tests have been negative. Milk sampling and testing for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Canada - inspection.canada.ca
- New CFIA guidance and precautions for producers participating in U.S. agricultural exhibitions are available at: Advisory: Guidance and precautions for participation in United States agricultural exhibitions to mitigate the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canadian cattle
- Veterinarians can submit samples from cattle for HPAI testing free of charge to the Animal Health Center
- Wild bird and sediment testing results for BC are updated weekly on the BC Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Detections (arcgis.com) dashboard
- The BC Chief Veterinarian placed an order to keep commercial quota birds indoors- effective September 17th.
As a reminder, additional CFIA information about HPAI in cattle can be found here:
More general information on HPAI in livestock can be found here:
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in livestock - Canadian Food Inspection Agency (canada.ca)
The Office of the Chief Veterinarian’s team are here to support veterinarians and producers dealing with concerns about regulated diseases, or other serious animal health matters, and together with the Animal Health Center laboratory, deliver a number of programs for detection and management of diseases. Feel free to reach out to us.