The Eurasian H5 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was first detected in the United States in January 2022 in the Carolinas. It quickly spread across the country, making its way to Washington state on 5/6/22. As of December 2022, HPAI has been confirmed in 36 backyard flocks in Washington across 14 counties. In the United States, over 52 million domestic (and countless wild) birds have lost their lives as a result of this outbreak.
We’ve compiled a list of resources below where you can learn all about HPAI and stay informed on the latest developments. Rather than repeating the information here that you’ll find in these comprehensive resources, we’ll leave you with what we consider to be the most important things to know about HPAI:
- It causes death within 48 hours with a 92% mortality rate
- It affects chickens, turkeys, peafowl, quails, pheasants, guinea fowl, and other farmed and wild birds; waterfowl are usually asymptomatic carriers
- It mainly spreads when infected migrating waterfowl or other infected wild birds come into contact (direct or indirect) with domestic birds
- The two most important things you can do to prevent your flock from becoming infected are to ensure they have no contact with wild birds, especially wild waterfowl, and to implement strict biosecurity measures
- If a single domestic bird tests positive, all birds on the same premises are “depopulated” (killed) by the USDA
At Rooster Haus Rescue, we started preparing indoor areas for our residents long before HPAI reached our area. Our residents moved into their temporary indoor living spaces in early April. We put a hold on all new intakes. Throughout the summer, we worked on building more permanent HPAI-safe outdoor enclosures for our flocks, and by the end of the summer all of our residents moved into these new safe areas.
Our biosecurity measures include limiting the number of visitors to the sanctuary to necessary volunteers only; not allowing any vehicles to drive onto sanctuary property; use of disinfecting boot baths and sprays whenever moving between flocks; disposable booties for indoor spaces; no sharing of tools or cleaning equipment between separate living spaces; and a more frequent cleaning schedule. We encourage anyone who cares for birds to implement these types of biosecurity measures to keep them safe from HPAI.
Open Sanctuary Project
Avian Influenza FAQ
Advanced Topics in Resident Health: Avian Influenza
HPAI Biosecurity Plan and Checklist
U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS)
2022 Detections of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
2022 Confirmations of HPAI in Commercial and Backyard Flocks
2022 Detections of HPAI in Wild Birds
Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA)
Avian Influenza Information
Detections in Washington State
Outbreak Map
News Releases
Washington Bird Flu Updates Facebook Group
Virtual Press Conference (5/6/22)
Q&A Session with State Vet (5/12/22)
Virtual Press Conference (5/19/22)