The U.S. has reported its first outbreak of H5N9 bird flu on a California duck farm, alongside the more common H5N1 strain, according to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).
Nearly 119,000 birds were culled by Dec. 2 on the Merced County farm to contain the spread.
“This is the first confirmed case of HPAI H5N9 in poultry in the United States,” USDA said in the report to the WOAH.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has impacted poultry worldwide, leading to mass cullings and spreading to mammals, including U.S. dairy cows, and has resulted in the death of a man in Louisiana.
