GAINESVILLE, Ga. — The state of Arkansas confirmed its first commercial case of bird flu for the year on April 10. According to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, more than 190,000 birds were infected at a commercial broiler production in Clay County.
The last time a commercial flock was infected by the virus was on Dec. 29, 2025, at a commercial broiler breeder in Drew County. More than 19,000 birds were affected at that facility, USDA data states.
Clay County, Ark., on the other hand, hasn’t had a bird flu detection since late 2024. This detection was also at a commercial broiler production, but more than 200,000 birds were affected at the time.
While Arkansas is just now detecting its first commercial case of 2026, other states have been struggling in the fight against bird flu since January. South Dakota has reported multiple detections recently.
Since March 31, South Dakota has had five commercial cases of bird flu in four different counties, two in Edmunds County, one in Hutchinson County, one in Charles Mix County, and one in Mcpherson County, according to USDA data. The most recent detection was on April 14 in Charles Mix County at a commercial turkey meat facility, with more than 45,000 birds affected.
The two detections in Edmunds County were on April 13 and March 31, both at commercial turkey breeder facilities. The other two detections in Hutchinson and Mcpherson Counties were both at commercial turkey meat facilities. In total, more than 190,000 birds were affected by these five detections, according to USDA data.
A little south of the Dakotas, Indiana continues to be hit hard by the virus. According to the Indiana Board of Animal Health, there have been 19 confirmed cases of bird flu since March 16.
The detections have come from a combination of commercial egg layers, table egg pullets, duck meat, and duck breeder facilities in LaGrange, Elkhart and Adams Counties. In total, more than 250,000 birds have been affected in Indiana since mid-March, according to data from the Indiana Board of Animal Health.
East of Indiana, things have continued to calm down in Pennsylvania in respect to the number of detections that have been confirmed, but a large number of birds are still being affected by bird flu.
The state hasn’t had any commercial cases in April yet, but the last two detections in March made a dent in the Pennsylvania poultry population. On March 17, 870,000 birds were affected by the virus at a commercial table egg layer facility in Lancaster County.
10 days later, an additional 18,000 were affected at a commercial duck meat facility, also in Lancaster County. A total of 888,000 birds were infected in less than 30 days in one county.
As of April 14, the control area has been released for both facilities.
Extreme detections like these are causing other state officials to take as many precautions as they can to prevent the spread of bird flu in their states. For example, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) wrote a letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins about the impact of bird flu on the poultry industry and its farmers, despite Wisconsin not having a confirmed case of bird flu since early March, USDA data states.
“I write again regarding the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak that continues to devastate our nation’s poultry flocks and dairy herds,” Baldwin wrote in the letter. “The disease has repeatedly disrupted domestic and global agricultural markets and strained household budgets since 2022.”
“These recent outbreaks could potentially repeat the alarming egg prices seen in 2025, which peaked at $6 per dozen,” Baldwin added. “Repeated supply shocks to markets have increased grocery costs around the country, hurting American consumers when affordability concerns are at an all-time high.”
In the letter, Baldwin also urged the Trump Administration to finalize and implement a national avian influenza vaccination strategy, as is included in the USDA’s Five-Pronged Approach from February 2025.
Bird flu isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and leaders in the poultry industry want answers and solutions for this continued outbreak.
On April 15, APHIS reported that for the previous 30 days there have been 28 commercial flocks and 14 backyard flocks affected by HPAI. Commercial flocks include 20 in Indiana and 5 in South Dakota. These combined national confirmations totaled 1.60 million affected birds.
For more information on bird flu, visit APHIS at https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza.
