Avian Influenza (AI)
Avian influenza or "Bird Flu" spreads easily and can infect all types of birds, learn how you can prevent it.
What Is Avian Influenza (AI)?
Avian Influenza also known as “bird flu” can infect chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, ducks, geese, and guinea fowl, and many other birds. There are two different classifications of the AI disease known as low pathogenicity (LPAI) and high pathogenicity (HPAI), these classifications are based on the severity of symptoms with HPAI causing the most severe illness. Migratory fowl have proven to be a natural reservoir for the low pathogenicity (LPAI) which is a less contagious form of AI. The HPAI is an extremely infectious and fatal form of the disease that, once established, can spread rapidly from flock to flock.
Know the Signs
- Lack of energy and appetite
- Sudden death without clinical signs
- Decreased egg production
- Thin-shelled, soft-shelled, or misshapen eggs
- Swelling of the head, eyelids, comb, wattles, and hocks
- Purple discoloration of the wattles, comb and legs
- Nasal discharge, coughing, sneezing
- Lack of coordination
- Diarrhea
How AI Spreads
AI spreads by bird-to-bird contact. The AI virus can spread by manure, egg flats, crates, other farming materials or equipment, and people who have picked up the virus on their clothing, shoes, or hands. Migratory waterfowl can also carry the disease.
Prevention
Protect your flock and help reduce the chances of AI:
- Restrict traffic onto and off your property or area where your birds are kept.
- Regularly disinfect your shoes, clothes, hands, egg trays, crates, vehicles, and tires. It’s best to have separate pairs of clothing to wear when caring for your flock.
- Avoid visiting other poultry farms or bird owners. If you do, be sure to change clothes and clean your hands and shoes before entering your own bird area.
Vaccines
Vaccinations against AI is not a common practice in the United States and it is usually not the first choice when dealing with an outbreak. HPAI is not common in the United States and is considered an exotic disease. The AI vaccines reduce outward signs of the disease in birds but do not prevent birds from becoming infected. Vaccines can help the slow the spread of AI to protect healthy birds outside a quarantined area, but vaccines cannot eliminate the AI disease.