UPDATED: H5 Avian Influenza Positive Test at Kent County Farm
UPDATED – 01/05/25 – Test results from the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Lab on a poultry farm in Kent County showed highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza (HPAI). Delaware Ag officials urge all poultry farms in Delaware to monitor flocks for any signs of increased mortality. Commercial poultry producers should follow protocol of notifying the company they grow for when they see any signs of HPAI. Backyard flock owners who notice signs of HPAI or increase mortality should email the Delaware Poultry Health Hotline.
Additional information from the Department of Agriculture:
The poultry affected had highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza (HPAI) of the Eurasian lineage 2.3.4.4b with early indications that the virus is the D1.1 genotype found in wild birds; however, confirmation of the genotype is determined by sequencing. There is currently no timeline for the receipt of this data by the Delaware Department of Agriculture.
All poultry farms in the state should be monitoring flocks for any signs of increased mortality. Producers should pay particular attention to whether birds show signs of respiratory illness or distress, such as sneezing, gasping for air, coughing, and/or runny nose. Other signs of HPAI in poultry can include swelling around the eyes, neck, and head; purple discoloration of the wattles, combs, and legs; tremors, drooping wings, circling, twisting of the head and neck, or any combination; watery, green diarrhea; lack of energy, poor appetite; and a drop in egg production, or soft or thin-shelled, misshapen eggs.
Commercial poultry producers should follow the protocol of notifying the company they grow for when they see any signs of HPAI.
Backyard flock owners who notice any of the signs of HPAI or experience increased mortality in their flock should email the Delaware Poultry Health Hotline at poultry.health@delaware.gov or call 302-698-4507 and provide your contact information, flock size, location, and concerns. Backyard flock owners will be contacted if a sample needs to be taken. Do not take dead or sick birds to a lab to be tested or move them off-site.
Backyard flock owners should keep their flock from commingling with wild birds and keep them under cover to protect them from coming into contact with infected wild bird droppings. The H5N1 virus has infected a small number of people across the U.S., and there has been no documented transmission between people. While continuing testing of people in close contact with animals infected with HPAI indicates a low risk to the general public’s health, backyard flock owners should keep birds in outdoor coops and not bring birds that have been living outside into the home. Children and pets should be kept away from wild birds and bird droppings.
When adding birds to your flock, make sure to purchase them from a reputable source. The baby chicks purchased at local farm stores come from NPIP-certified flocks tested and shown to be free from avian influenza. When they are between two days and two weeks old, these chicks will typically leave the store with their new owner, so they are considered low-risk for having the disease. However, once they are about three weeks old, they are more susceptible to contracting the virus from their new environment. Make sure to keep new birds or returning show birds separated from the established home flocks for 30 days.
The Delaware Department of Agriculture requires the registration of all locations where live poultry is kept, which allows timely information on disease incidents to be sent to all poultry producers. Registration forms are available online at https://de.gov/poultry.
Delawareans are reminded not to touch or handle injured, sick, or dead birds and to use the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Sick and Dead Wildlife Reporting Form should they encounter dead or sick birds. Wild birds should not be reported to the Delaware Poultry Health Hotline, as that reporting hotline is reserved for backyard flocks and farms with poultry.
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ORIGINAL STORY – 01/03/25 – Preliminary testing for H5 Avian Influenza of a commercial broiler flock in Kent County has returned a presumptive positive from the UD Lasher Lab in Georgetown. Additional samples have been sent to the USDA National Veterinary Services Lab (NVSL) for further confirmation.
The affected premises has been quarantined and birds on the property are being depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the affected flock will NOT enter the food system. Last week over 850 wild birds were reported dead through the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Sick and Dead Wildlife Reporting Form – confirmation on test results from the NVSL are pending.
This comes after presumptive positive H5 results in snow geese found at Prime Hook Beach. While some of these may be duplicate reports, or deaths due to other causes, officials know that more birds have succumbed to the virus, dying in places out of sight.
Additional information from DDA:
Avian influenza is a highly contagious airborne respiratory virus that spreads quickly among birds through nasal and eye secretions and manure. The virus can be spread from flock to flock, including flocks of wild birds, through contact with infected poultry, equipment, and the clothing and shoes of caretakers. This virus affects poultry, like chickens, ducks, and turkeys, and some wild bird species, such as ducks, geese, shorebirds, and raptors.
To better protect their flocks, poultry producers and backyard flock owners must realize that what occurs in wild birds does impact the health of their birds and that this is not only a problem along Delaware’s coast, which is where many of the reported dead birds have been located so far. Those birds that are not sick or are strong enough to fly in the morning will then take flight, moving inland to open space, including farm fields, to forage. At this time that virus can be introduced to poultry farms and areas where backyard flocks are commingling with wildlife or are not under cover, protecting them from infected wild bird droppings. Snow geese are very mobile, flying as far into Maryland or New Jersey in a day.
Considering this new case and the prevalence of the virus in the wild bird population, all poultry owners need to increase their vigilance in protecting their flocks from contracting avian influenza by following these steps:
- Limit, monitor, and record any movement of people, vehicles, or animals on or off your farm.
- Permit only essential workers and vehicles to enter the farm to limit the chances of bringing the virus from an outside source.
- Avoid visiting other poultry farms and any unnecessary travel off the farm.
- Disinfect equipment, vehicles, footwear, and other items that come into contact with flocks.
- Keep your flock away from wild or migratory birds, especially waterfowl.
- Isolate any ill animals and contact your veterinarian.
If You Have Sick Poultry or Experience Increased Mortality in Your Flock:
- Commercial poultry producers should follow the procedures of contacting the company they grow for when they notice signs of disease.
- Delaware backyard flock owners who notice any of the signs of HPAI in their flock should email the Delaware Poultry Health Hotline at poultry.health@delaware.gov or call 302-698-4507 and provide your contact information, size of flock, location, and concerns.
Additional background
Avian influenza (AI) is caused by an influenza type A virus that can infect poultry (such as chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, domestic ducks, geese, and guinea fowl) and is carried by free-flying waterfowl and wild birds, such as ducks, geese, raptors, and shorebirds. AI viruses are classified by a combination of two groups of proteins: hemagglutinin or “H” proteins, of which there are 16 (H1–H16), and neuraminidase or “N” proteins, of which there are 9 (N1–N9). Many combinations of “H” and “N” proteins are possible. Each combination is considered a different subtype and can be further broken down into different strains that circulate within flyways/geographic regions. AI viruses are further classified by their pathogenicity (low or high)—the ability of a particular virus strain to produce disease in domestic poultry