HPAI Updates, Surveillance, and Outbreaks Abroad - Zoo and Aquarium All Hazards Partnership

Update 2: January 12, 2017

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses continue to be detected around the world. On January 9, USDA announced the detection of an HPAI H5 in Montana in a mallard duck that was part of routine surveillance activities. It is hoped that this detection will be isolated, as was the detection in the same duck species in Alaska in late 2016.

Sadly, an H5N8 has impacted a swannery in Dorset, England, and a Russian zoo recently depopulated its entire bird collection* due to HPAI.

In addition to the H5 viruses that are spreading throughout Asia and Europe, other strains are making the news. A rare case of H7N2 infected a Manhattan animal shelter, and caused illness in one of the attending veterinarians.

Update 1: December 13, 2016

The United States continues to conduct surveillance for HPAI in wild birds as outbreaks continue in Europe and Asia. Please see the bulletin from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, for important information on current HPAI events, domestic surveillance for HPAI in wild birds, safety guidelines and precautions, and more. We recommend reading this bulletin in its entirety

“The purpose of this Bulletin is to review events that led to the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in North America in late 2014 and to provide an overview of HPAI mortality events and detections that are currently occurring in poultry and wild migratory birds of Europe and Asia”

Original Post:

Since we have moved into the migration season some of you have reached out to inquire about the status of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Things have been quiet so far in the US, with the last positive sample having been collected from a wild mallard in Alaska this past August.

A table of positive surveillance results, updated weekly, can be found here: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/downloads/animal_diseases/ai/uspositivecases17.pdf .

The ZAHP Fusion Center is also following the developments of current HPAI events in Europe and India. As you may be aware, in mid-October avian flu sub-type H5N8 (new to India) was discovered at a zoo in Gwailor, India after samples were taken from some of the 15 painted storks that died over the span of a few days. The rest of the painted storks at the zoo were culled. This month H5N8 has been discovered in wild birds in Croatia, Hungary, Germany, and Poland, as well as in Austria on Lake Constance near the borders of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. More information about the events in India and throughout Europe can be found at the following links:

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