As the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) during the spring and summer was the largest animal health emergency in US history, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says it continues to prepare for any potential findings of the virus.
In collaboration with its partners, USDA is working to actively look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations. As part of the wild bird surveillance effort, APHIS and its wildlife agency partners will be sampling more than 40,000 wild birds between July 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016—with more than 24,000 samples already tested.