Outbreak of highly contagious avian flu detected in Spallumcheen

Photo: Unsplash/Tom Ungerer

A new outbreak of avian flu has been detected in Spallumcheen.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency website lists the outbreak as being discovered Sept. 18 in a small flock of non-commercial birds.

The CFIA lists the case as 'non-poultry,' meaning the affected birds are kept in a single household or for reasons other than commercial production.

It's not yet known what kind of birds are involved or how many may be infected with the highly contagious virus.

A control zone has not been implemented thus far.

The outbreak is the 11th in British Columbia this year and follows ones earlier this year in the region, including the first in the province in the rural Enderby area in April.

That was followed by outbreaks in Kelowna in May and in Summerland in June.

There have been an estimated 2,363,000 birds infected with the virus across Canada.

The April North Okanagan outbreak was in a commercial poultry operation and has since been revoked.

Avian influenza is not a significant public health concern for healthy people who are not in regular contact with infected birds.