Bird flu has been spreading fast among poultry in the European Union this season, raising concerns of a repeat of previous crises that led to the deaths of tens of millions of poultry in the bloc and fears that it could spread to humans.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday confirmed two of the four presumptive positive bird flu cases among poultry farm workers in Washington state.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture weakened an emergency order last spring designed to prevent the spread of bird flu among the nation's dairy cattle after pushback from state and industry officials, according to state and federal records seen by Reuters.
British Columbia has three new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) among commercial poultry flocks in the Abbotsford and Chilliwack areas.
Bird flu is presumed to have infected four poultry workers in Washington state, making it the sixth U.S. state to identify human cases this year, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
Cows in California are dying at much higher rates from bird flu than in other affected states, industry and veterinary experts said, and some carcasses have been left rotting in the sun as rendering plants struggle to process all the dead animals.
The Australian government has committed A$95 million (C$87.2 million) to fight a virulent strain of bird flu wreaking havoc globally. With the arrival of millions of migratory birds this spring, there is an increased risk of a deadly strain arriving in Australia, known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1.
California is investigating five possible human cases of bird flu among dairy farm workers, in addition to the six cases previously confirmed in the state, the state health department said on Monday.
U.S. and California health officials confirmed two new cases of H5N1 bird flu in dairy farm workers in the state on Friday, bringing the total of infected dairy workers in that state to six, and the total of human cases nationwide this year to 20.