The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)'s testing at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease has confirmed the strain causing the avian influenza outbreak on a farm near Woodstock, Ontario as a highly pathogenic H5N2 virus.

Avian influenza does not pose a risk to food safety when poultry and poultry products are properly handled and cooked. Avian influenza rarely affects humans that do not have consistent contact with infected birds. Public health authorities are ready to take precautionary measures as required.

H5N2 is a subtype that is known to affect wild and domestic birds. A highly pathogenic virus, as opposed to a low pathogenic virus, causes severe illness and death in birds. All birds on the infected premises will be humanely euthanized in the coming days, under CFIA supervision.

As the CFIA's investigation progresses, any additional control measures will be assessed and put into place as appropriate.

Poultry farmers are reminded to practice a high level of biosecurity to reduce the risk of disease spread, and report any suspicious symptoms in their flocks to the CFIA.

Further Reading

You can visit the Avian Flu page by clicking here.