SALEM, ORE. — The United States Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL) confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a commercial layer flock in Clackamas County, Ore., on Oct. 24.

According to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), 146,000 birds were affected.

This is the first occurrence of HPAI in Oregon poultry in 2024. Throughout the entire wave of HPAI, a total of three detections of the disease in an Oregon commercial flock have been reported. The other two instances occurred in November 2023 — one in Linn County and the other in Marion County. Together, those two outbreaks affected 754,200 broiler chickens.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) stated it is working closely with APHIS on a joint incident response and action plan.

Oregon State Veterinarian Ryan Scholz issued a regional quarantine around the operation to prevent the movement of poultry and poultry products from within the affected area, giving state and federal staff time to conduct surveillance to ensure no additional cases of HPAI exist.

ODA is also working with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and Clackamas County Public Health to ensure the farm personnel have proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and to provide public health resources.

Since the current wave of HPAI began in February 2022, a total of 104 million birds have been affected in 48 states.