March 16, 2026

Indiana, US, still a hotbed for bird flu infections, according to USDA

Indiana, the United States, continues to be a hotbed of avian flu activity, according to last week's reports from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

The state had eight outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian flu in the past week in three counties, Elkhart, Lagrange, and Jay. Jay County had the largest outbreak, involving 20,600 birds on a commercial turkey meat farm. Elkhart County had four separate outbreaks, three of which involved duck meat facilities.

Wisconsin reported two major outbreaks among egg-laying chickens on farms in Jefferson and Walworth counties, with more than 3 million birds affected.

Also of note last week was another detection of avian flu at a live-bird market in Queens, New York, affecting 40 birds.

In the past 30 days, APHIS has confirmed 77 avian flu outbreaks that affected 41 commercial farms and 36 backyard flocks, with 13.98 million birds affected.

Wild-bird avian flu detections continue across the United States, but have slowed down in the past week with only 29 noted by APHIS, including waterfowl in Kentucky and a bald eagle in Kansas.

- CIDRAP