The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is advising the public that it has added the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Benin, and the Republic of Botswana to the list of regions affected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

HPAI is a serious disease and requires rapid response because it is highly contagious and often fatal to chickens.

The Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Benin, and the Republic of Botswana were added to the list of regions APHIS considers to be affected with HPAI, effective respectively on June 8, 2021; August 26, 2021; and September 10, 2021.

APHIS maintains a list of restricted regions it considers affected with HPAI of any subtype on the APHIS website.

Additional information on this action can be found here.

Source: USDA-APHIS