More than 160 million wild and domestic birds have been infected with bird flu across the United States since 2022.

As the United States continues to deal with the spread of avian influenza, challenges to prevention are wildlife, environment, fomite transfer and flock additions.

Avian influenza is not new,” said Mark Stetter, dean of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “But what is new is this virus is changing, and it’s changing in multiple ways that have raised concerns lately.

The presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was confirmed on March 4 in a commercial laying hen flock in Jay County, Indiana, reported the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

An outbreak of H5 avian influenza was confirmed by United States health agencies in mid-2024. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the public health risk is currently low - but states are still monitoring the progression.

The D1.1 strain of H5N1, now spreading in dairy herds, has a mutation that enhances replication in mammals. Could this be a step toward human-to-human transmission?

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has announced a five-pronged plan to end the avian flu and lower egg prices at the supermarket.

Avian flu is not just for the birds; cases have been reported in the United States in dairy cows, as well as types of cats, a fox, a seal, and most recently, rats and domestic indoor cats, according to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

In March 2024, for the first time in the United States, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus was recognized as having crossed over from birds into cattle. Experts believe the virus was transmitted a month or two beforehand from birds to dairy cows in the Texas panhandle,

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Zoo has temporarily closed two bird exhibits and altered the hours of another after a dead wood duck on the property was found to have had the avian flu.

The presumed-positive flock in Jay County includes 214,000 hens. The Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) reported that the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was detected in a commercial laying hen flock in Jay County, Indiana.

“Whenever we have an area of the United States that has a positive avian influenza case, those areas are quarantined, and we can no longer export that product, so it’s a very important topic financially for the producers as it relates to exports,” said Coufal.