The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture reported today that several flocks of commercial poultry tested positive for bird flu in five different counties.
Bird flu, or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), is a highly contagious virus that can act like pneumonia, but its symptoms include neurological changes and multiple organ failure. It can kill an entire flock within a few days.
On Jan. 27, the department announced Pennsylvania’s first reported case of the virus in a commercial flock in Lehigh County since February 2024. The last case in a backyard flock was from October 2024.
Shapiro announced during his budget address on Tuesday the department found a second case in a commercial farm in Middletown, Dauphin County over the weekend.
As of Feb. 6, the department presumed that several flocks on commercial poultry farms in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and Lehigh counties are infected based on initial tests and “rapid deaths among birds.”
The department is quarantining any farms that are presumed positive. All commercial poultry facilities within a 10-kilometer radius of infected flocks are restricted and subjected to testing. Dairy farms within 3 kilometers may also be tested and face transportation restrictions, according to the presser.
In the press release, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding spoke highly of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed 2025-26 budget and said its investments “have been critical in our ability to respond to what has been the most devastating animal health crisis in American history.”
Shapiro’s budget would invest $2 million into a new animal testing lab in Western PA, which the department’s presser states “will extend the capacity of three existing PADLS labs, which tested more than 207,000 poultry samples in 2024 for HPAI, in addition to more than 17,000 tests of bulk milk samples since November 2024.”
According to the department, bird flu has killed 22.75 million birds nationwide in the last 30 days and 153.66 million since the start of the outbreak in February 2022.
— Isabela Weiss