WASHINGTON — While the summer quieted down from outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), cases have picked up during the month of September. The US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on Sept. 20 outbreaks in four states, including California, Minnesota, South Dakota and Utah.

While the California outbreak breached a smaller backyard farm in Fresno County, affecting 100 birds, HPAI infected commercial turkey flocks across the other three states, bringing the current total of affected birds to over 45 million.

Two producers from Clark County, South Dakota, saw over 60,000 birds affected in their commercial flocks. Minnesota had two counties, Brown and Stearns, hit with HPAI, affecting nearly 90,000 birds all together. Then a single outbreak in a flock in Sanpete County, Utah, affected 73,200 birds.

Other states infected with HPAI during September include Washington, Massachusetts, Montana, Tennessee, Michigan, Idaho, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Ohio, which had a commercial flock of over 3 million birds culled.

The United States is not the only country experiencing recent HPAI outbreaks. Canada confirmed six new cases this month in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.