The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says avian influenza was detected in a commercial poultry flock in Chilliwack on Friday.
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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has announced the first detection of avian flu in a commercial poultry flock in British Columbia this season.
The agency says the infection was detected on Friday in Chilliwack, marking the first case among domestic birds announced in B.C. since February.
According to the agency, infections have been moving across the Prairies since mid-September.
Elsewhere in Canada, the season’s first detection in Ontario was announced last week, and the first case in Quebec was announced on Thursday.
British Columbia has been hardest hit by waves of avian influenza since late 2021, with the province accounting for more than 10 million birds that have died or been culled out of 18 million countrywide.
The agency says H5 avian flu is not a food safety concern, but the disease can spread quickly, so infections typically result in quarantine of affected farms and slaughter of their flocks.
Human cases are rare; however, the source notes that in 2024, a teenage girl in B.C. became infected and developed serious illness before recovering.
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