INDIANAPOLIS – Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) isn’t spreading through the nation’s poultry population in the same way today as it did during an outbreak about 10 years ago, according to a Purdue University poultry specialist.

This time, more birds have been destroyed – over 162 million nationwide as of press time – as the virus has affected poultry on commercial and hobby farms in every state.

In 2014-2015, 48.1 million birds were impacted across the country, said Darrin M. Karcher, an associate professor in the university’s Department of Animal Sciences. Nearly 16,000 jobs were lost, and it took time for production to return to normal, he noted.

A separate outbreak in Dubois County, Ind., in 2016 saw 414,223 commercial turkeys and chicken layers destroyed.

This time, in Indiana alone, millions of birds have been destroyed just this year, according to data from the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH). The current outbreak began in the Hoosier state in 2022.

In the 2014-2016 outbreaks, it was evident there was a lot of spread of the virus as a result of insufficient biosecurity within the nation’s commercial entities, Karcher pointed out.

“That is no longer the case,” he said. “What we are seeing with this iteration of high path is it is a point-source introduction. It is a reservoir in the wild bird population and it is just by your luck that you had birds that flew over the facility, defecated, and now that virus is closer to your respective poultry species. There is equal opportunity for this virus to impact small flock as it is for commercial.”

That introduction of the virus elevates the potential that small flocks could be infected in the same way commercial operations have been, Karcher said.

He spoke Feb. 19 during a BOAH webinar geared toward hobby flock owners.

Biosecurity, Karcher explained, will look different when talking about a hobby farm versus a commercial operation, but many of the principles remain the same.

For example, large and small producers should practice traffic control in regard to who or what visits their farms. If a producer visits a bird show, swap meet or neighbors with sick birds, that producer should shower and change clothes and shoes before going into his or her own coop, he said. Never wear street clothes or shoes into the coop, and provide any visitors with coveralls and boots.

Other tips included keeping your flock from other animals, don’t let dogs or cats in the coop, keep out or try to limit rodents in the building, and keep wild birds from mingling with your birds.

Establish a quarantine area for new birds or for those returning from a show, and quarantine them for at least 21 days. Also, keep equipment and buildings clean. He recommended cleaning out buildings at least twice a year.

Karcher noted “there is no approved vaccine that we are allowed to administer to poultry to help combat high path avian influenza as a strategy.”

To illustrate a point that HPAI can spread quickly in a poultry flock, he showed three photos taken at a commercial turkey operation that eventually became infected with the virus. In the first photo, the birds look normal and don’t appear to be having any health issues.

In a second photo taken two hours later, Karcher said the birds are already starting to exhibit a different behavior. The turkeys are starting to look sick and generally look unhealthy.

Two hours later, the third picture shows what appear to be many dead turkeys, with the facility having what he described as a major mortality event. This iteration of bird flu is impacting flocks very quickly, Karcher said.

He discussed the symptoms of HPAI. Because it highly pathogenic, “the symptom is going to be death,” he said. Producers may notice their birds look sick, such as pulling their heads into their bodies, ruffling their feathers out, and looking like “they just don’t feel good.”

Karcher told webinar attendees the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the current risk to the general public is low. HPAI is not considered a food safety threat, and eggs and poultry are tested prior to leaving the farm.

Since the current outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) began in Indiana in 2022, millions of commercial egg layers, turkeys and ducks have been destroyed in the state after the virus was confirmed at the farms on which they were living.

As of Feb. 18, 6.6 million commercial egg layers, 296,616 commercial turkeys and 17,603 commercial ducks had been destroyed in Indiana, according to a case list posted by the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH). In addition, 650 non-commercial birds had been affected. Nationwide, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said more than 162 million birds have been destroyed.

Not all the destroyed birds necessarily had the flu, but BOAH and APHIS both require birds on infected farms to be depopulated.

“The fact is that if they are not depopulated, all the birds are going to die from HPAI,” explained Denise Derrer Spears, BOAH public information director. “It spreads fairly rapidly and there is no cure. Domestic poultry do not recover.

“The reason for the depop is to reduce the spread which can create a large ‘viral load’ on the farm. That means there is a lot of virus being shed in the barn, and, consequently, the environment where it presents a greater risk of spread to other barns, farms or animals. We also do not want farm workers exposed to virus any more than absolutely necessary.”

Technically, she noted, the birds may not have died from HPAI, but that would have been the end result. This differs from the H5N1 in dairy cattle, as cows can recover over time, Spears added. As of press time, H5N1 had not been found in dairy cattle in Indiana.