In expanding activity involving highly pathogenic Eurasian H5 avian flu, federal officials over the weekend reported the first outbreak in Texas, which struck a commercial pheasant farm.

The event pushed the number of states experiencing outbreaks in poultry flocks to 25 this year, with the virus linked to the loss of about 22.8 million birds so far. Iowa—the nation's largest egg producer—is the hardest-hit state, having lost 13.2 million poultry already.

The outbreaks are the nation's worst since 2015, when highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu struck farms in 15 states, leading to the loss of more than 50 million birds, of which more than 32 million were in Iowa.

In related developments on the current outbreak, eight earlier-affected states reported more poultry outbreaks: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, according to state and federal sources.

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