Alberta bird flu outbreak continues to spread throughout province

A bird flu outbreak has now hit Alberta after impacting farms in other areas around Canada and the United States.

Seven counties in Alberta are being affected by the outbreak so far.

It has been spreading around other parts of Canada and the United States for some time now. Though we are being assured there is very little risk to consumers.

While the province says there is an extremely low risk of the virus being passed along to humans, it could impact our poultry supply.

Sylvain Charlebois at Dalhousie University says it does harken back to a previous outbreak that caused a $300-million impact.

“Back in 2004 Abbotsford was hit by the bird flu [and] they had to kill almost 20-million birds. And at the time we did see a spike in prices temporarily for two months. We saw the price of chickens go up and the price of eggs as well,” said Charlebois.

Read More:

• ‘No risk to food safety’: Avian flu discovery in Alberta prompts reassurance from agriculture minister

• Alberta avian ‘bird’ flu strain found in poultry farms across the province

• Highly pathogenic avian flu found in Alberta poultry: CFIA

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However, Charlebois says this current outbreak seems to be managed much better at this time, and impacts may be far lesser.

While an estimate of hundreds of thousands of birds are affected, Sylvain Charlebois at Dalhousie University says it’s not too terrible.

“Farmers are much more aware of the risk they will dispose of very quickly. They haven’t made the same mistakes as they did in Abbotsford almost 18 years ago. I think so far Canadians should be reassured and shouldn’t expect changes at the grocery store,” said Charlebois.