Image via flickr user woodleywonderworks https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

California’s first outbreak of avian flu was found in a commercial flock of chickens in Fresno County, state and federal agriculture officials announced this week.

The outbreak was discovered Aug. 22 in an unnamed poultry operation among commercial broiler breeder chickens, with 33,900 animals destroyed to stem the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), reported the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  

The Fresno County operation has also been placed under quarantine.

“While this virus has impacted commercial flocks in most other states in the U.S. since last January, this is the first commercial flock to be found infected in California,” according  to a news release from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).

HPAI was also recently detected in a backyard flock of chickens in Contra Costa County, according to the CDFA. Sixty birds were euthanized as a result of that outbreak.

So far in 2022, HPAI has been detected in 410 flocks in 39 affected states. According to the USDA, 190 have been commercial flocks and 220 have been backyard flocks.

In total nearly 40.2 million birds have been affected in the U.S.