The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza (HPAI) in a backyard mixed-poultry flock in Judith Basin County, Montana.

Samples from the flock, which experienced increased mortality, were tested and confirmed at the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa. APHIS is working closely with the Montana Department of Livestock to respond to the finding.

State officials have quarantined the affected premises and birds on the property will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease.

As part of existing avian influenza response plans, Federal and State partners are working jointly on additional surveillance and testing in the nearby area. The United States has the strongest AI surveillance program in the world, and USDA is working with its partners to actively look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry, to be low. No human infections with the virus have been detected at this time.

Further Reading

You can visit the Avian Flu page by clicking here.