This article was updated to include information on new Delaware and Maryland cases.
Testing has confirmed two additional cases of Avian Influenza, with one in Maryland and another in Delaware joining Saturday’s case of highly pathogenic H5N1 on a Maryland poultry farm in Cecil County.
The latest positive cases were confirmed Wednesday by federal laboratory testing following an investigation by the Delaware and Maryland Departments of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratory.
The first was found on a pullet operation in New Castle County, Delaware, and the other in a broiler flock in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland.
State officials have quarantined all affected premises, and birds on the properties are being or have been depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. The agencies involved in the investigation have also reiterated “birds from affected flocks will not enter the food system.”
“While Delmarva’s chicken community has worked hard to prevent avian influenza from affecting their flocks and was able to keep the 2015 U.S. HPAI outbreak from impacting us, the ease with which this disease can spread from bird to bird means HPAI poses a significant risk to broiler chickens,” said Holly Porter, Delmarva Chicken Association executive director, in statement concerning the recent cases.
Saturday’s case was also investigated by MDA and the USDA National Veterinary Services Laboratory to confirm the diagnosis. This comes a week after another positive result was found in a commercial flock in Delaware.
According to MDA, Maryland and its federal and state partners have “expanded their surveillance sampling and testing regimen” to better protect the poultry industry on the Delmarva Peninsula.
To prevent the spread of the virus, depopulation of the affected birds has begun in Cecil County and nothing from the facility will enter the supply chain. The farm is under a strict quarantine, with only authorized personnel allowed on the premises.
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“Avian influenza does not affect poultry meat or egg products, which remain healthy and safe to eat and handle,” said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. “All poultry growers, operators and owners, including those who manage backyard flocks, must remain vigilant.”
No human bird flu infections have been reported from proper handling of poultry meat or from eating properly cooked poultry or poultry products, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bartenfelder underscored that MDA, USDA and other partner agencies are working diligently to address and localize the situation, including quarantining and testing nearby flocks.
Among birds, HPAI is a highly contagious airborne respiratory virus through nasal and eye secretions, as well as manure. The virus can be spread in various ways from flock to flock, including by wild birds, through contact with infected poultry, by equipment, and on the clothing and shoes of caretakers.
“It has appeared sporadically over the last several decades in bird populations throughout the globe,” MDA said in a statement announcing the positive results. “Wild birds can carry the virus without becoming sick, while domesticated birds can become very sick.”
In humans
According to the CDC: “Avian influenza viruses usually do not infect people, although rare cases of human infection with these viruses have been reported.”
The first human infection in the U.S. was identified in 1959.
“The spread of avian influenza viruses from one ill person to another has been reported very rarely, and when it has been reported it has been limited, inefficient and not sustained,” the CDC said in an overview of the illness.
From 1997 to now, more than 880 people worldwide were infected, with approximately a 50% case fatality proportion. That includes 20 cases and seven deaths in Hong Kong between 1997 and 2003.
From 1997 to now, more than 880 people worldwide were infected, with approximately a 50% case fatality proportion. That includes 20 cases and seven deaths in Hong Kong between 1997 and 2003.
One case of asymptomatic infection was reported in Vietnam in 2011 and one of case of asymptomatic infection was reported in the U.K. in 2021.
Infections have been reported in more than 60 people in China since 2014 and one case was reported in Laos in 2021.
Virus infections were reported in a small number of asymptomatic people in Russia in 2020.
The main risk factor to humans is the direct or indirect exposure to infected animals or environments and surfaces contaminated by feces, according to the Pan American Health Organization.
Biosecurity and outbreaks
In the event of an outbreak, strict farm biosecurity measures would mean the general public is not allowed to enter a farm and those granted access would be monitored and recorded.
In an effort to stop the spread of the virus, stringent efforts would be made to clean and disinfect everything from footwear worn on the property and vehicles coming off the property.
In 2004, a different strain of avian flu was found at two Delaware farms and one near Pocomoke City in Maryland. To control that outbreak, 205,000 chickens were killed and composted inside their chickenhouses as officials imposed quarantine zones for miles around the affected farms.
Detection of the HPAI H5 virus began again in December 2014 when the CDC found positive cases into mid-June 2015. During that time, virus detections were reported in 21 U.S. states.
The estimated national economic loss, according to federal data, from that outbreak totaled $1 billion.
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That included 15 states with outbreaks in domestic poultry or captive birds, and six states with H5 detections in wild birds only.
In 2017, the Eastern Shore suffered another HPAI scare in which 40,000 commercial birds were euthanized.
Commercial chicken growers and backyard flock owners can email questions about the outbreak to MD.Birdflu@maryland.gov.
