Did biosecurity lessons in 2015 curb the ’22 HPAI outbreak deaths?

Did lessons in biosecurity from the 2015 avian flu outbreak help save domestic birds in the 2022 outbreak? Jada Thompson, assistant professor of agribusiness in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, said one factor indicates proper biosecurity may have had a significant impact.

Thompson, a researcher with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said unlike 2015’s bird flu outbreak, there was little to no “lateral spread” of the new highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) this year. “Lateral spread” means the transmission of the disease from house to house through things like farm equipment, vehicles and people, or from farm to farm. Read more