USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a report on planning and preparations for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in advance of a potential recurrence of the disease when birds migrate south this fall.
Avian influenza devastated poultry producers this past spring, affecting more than 48.8 million birds in 21 states before the last detection was recorded on June 17. Since this last outbreak, APHIS officials say they have used the time to plan for the return of the disease, using a hypothetical worst case scenario in an effort to prepare.