The Government of Canada website shows four confirmed cases of bird flu on farms in the Eastern Townships and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has placed each of them in quarantine in Val-Saint-François, Haut-Saint-François, Brome-Missisquoi and Les Sources.
The most recent update came on Sunday. On Saturday, The Record spoke to CFIA National Operations Veterinary Specialist Dr. Marc Bertrand, who confirmed the presence of avian influenza on three farms in the region, as well as two investigations into possible outbreaks.
According to Bertrand, it’s nearly impossible at the moment to say how many birds have been infected in Canada, however, if he were to estimate, it would be around 500,000 infected birds across 25 locations. The CFIA has set up Primary Control Zones (PCZ) in the affected areas.
“It’s quite important as a global portrait. It has been in the European Union in the last two years with outbreaks coming on and being nipped as they erupted, but now we have it in North America. There’s over 180 premises in the States, and roughly 25 in Canada,” said Bertrand.
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