University of Arkansas to host International Avian Influenza Summit

The International Avian Influenza Summit will bring hundreds of poultry industry professionals together for two days in October to address the global challenges of avian influenza, according to a University of Arkansas news release. Guillermo Tellez-Isaias, research professor for the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, will chair the organising committee for the summit. He said the event will address the effects of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, which has wreaked havoc on the poultry industry worldwide since the latest outbreak began in 2022. According to the World Health Organization, 67 countries on five continents have reported HPAI in poultry and wild birds. In 2023, another 14 countries reported outbreaks, mostly in the Americas. This year in the US, HPAI was confirmed in 47 states, affecting 58.7 million birds. Read more