USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) released two updated interagency plans related to the surveillance of avian influenza in wild birds.
Part of USDA’s on-going efforts to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza, the updated plans will help USDA with further monitoring of wild birds for the HPAI virus during the fall migration. According to USDA, between now and March 2016, HPAI surveillance in wild birds will increase as APHIS Wildlife Services biologists and their State partners collect approximately 41,000 samples from apparently healthy wild birds from targeted areas throughout the United States.