Avian flu outbreak in Lotbinière

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency discovered on Wednesday a poultry farm in the Lotbinière region affected by avian flu. The infected flock comes from a duck farm.

The president of the Poultry Breeders of Quebec says he is concerned, but not surprised.

Spring and fall are the two seasons most conducive to the spread of the virus because migratory birds travel great distances with the disease. explains Benoît Fontaine.

Poultry farmers deploy biosecurity measures all year round and are called upon to enhance them in these circumstances of virus spread.

This is the third outbreak reported this month in Quebec. The two other infected places are in Montérégie, in the Carignan sector and in Sainte-Hélène-de-Bagot.

The duck hit

The infected flock comes from a commercial farm and mainly affects ducks, according to Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt, professor at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal. The duck is the bird species most susceptible to avian flu along with the turkey.

“It is worrying because it shows that the virus is still very present in the environment, but it is not a surprise because there are many sources of contamination currently in British Columbia,” explains Mr. Vaillancourt.

According to the expert, however, we must wait for the results of the analyzes of samples sent to the laboratory of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Winnipeg. These will establish whether these are low or high pathogenic cases, which will determine whether the entire herd will have to be euthanized.

Pierre Vaillancourt is reassuring: no risk of illness is incurred by consuming poultry. It is rather by being in close contact with infected birds or their environment that humans can be exposed to the virus, he adds.

In 2022, four cases of avian flu were detected in Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, forcing the slaughter of 6,400 birds.

Since September 1, 2023, theACIA reports that 950,000 birds have been infected in Quebec.