Dairy herds and poultry flocks continue to test positive for the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) across the country, with dozens of humans also testing positive, mainly from cows and chickens, with one human death in Louisiana.
In Iowa, 13 dairy herds were infected with H5N1 last year, and three poultry flocks have been killed so far in 2025 to stop the spread of the virus.
No dairy herds have been infected in Illinois, however, Illinois Wildlife Extension Specialist Doctor Joy O'Keefe says the virus has infected a variety of animals.
"One domestic bird, the captive hawk, and then also a wild bird, a Canada goose," O'Keefe said in a phone interview with WVIK. "It's also been recently detected in a couple of zoo animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo. One was a seal and the other was a flamingo, so both animals that hang out in water. And then it was also detected in a population of chickens, a poultry farm near Chicago."
O'Keefe stresses the general threat to the public remains low. She says people can follow updates by visiting the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service or USDA APHIS.
"[It] has a webpage that reports all observations of high path avian influenza in wildlife and in captive birds," O'Keefe said. "So if you want to check out their website, you can just search for avian influenza and USDA Wildlife Services and you'll find their page and it has a list. It also has a map, so you can see particularly where the poultry folks have been infected."
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Wildlife Medical Clinic Director Doctor Stephany Lewis says waterfowl birds are the most susceptible to spreading avian influenza. They migrate and could come into contact with other bird populations or mammals, passing the virus.
"[T]he populations that we worry about more are the ones that are not so resilient, right? That are either, you know, lower in numbers, trending down in numbers, or, you know, there are some species that, you know, especially during migration and in the winter where you have a huge subset of the entire population in a very small geographic area," Lewis said in a phone interview with WVIK. "So those are the situations where we really worry about those populations not being able to bounce back if we have a mass casualty event or mass die-off."
O'Keefe and Lewis recommend keeping an eye on the feeders and helping the winged neighbors by maintaining consistent cleaning.
"Certainly be vigilant about watching for dead or injured birds that appear to be sick that you might detect at your feeder," O'Keefe said. "If you see that, that would be a good sign to, you know, take those down. Of course, people should be washing and cleaning their feeders regularly because we do know that there are other pathogens spread at feeders, such as salmonella.”
Lewis says people with backyard poultry or those caring for ducks, quail, and partridges should keep them away from bird feeders and enclosed to protect them from migratory birds flying over yards.
"[E]specially when we're seeing so many large outbreaks in our wildlife species, the recommendation is to not let your birds free roam at this time, and if you're able to, to keep them contained in a coop or a coop with a run and make sure that the entire roof of that coop is something that's solid so that if wild birds flying overhead or a bird perching on top of the enclosure, so that their feces and droppings cannot fall into... fall into the enclosure with your poultry," Lewis said.
"[B]ecause we know that the virus is easily transmitted and there's a large, large amount of virus contained in the species of infected birds. And infected birds do not always show signs of illness, especially our waterfowl species. We know that they can potentially be asymptomatic carriers. The other recommendation because the virus can be transmitted by rodents is to make sure that your coop and run is entirely rodent proof. And so that's using, you know, I use the hardware cloth to line the coop, make sure that the hardware cloth is buried a few inches underground or that you have some kind of solid flooring so animals can not burrow underneath the coop. And making sure there are no gaps anyway larger than a quarter inch so that mice cannot access the inside of your coop and potenitally bring in the virus that way."
Lewis continues by saying people should keep their animal feed and supplies in an area that is rodent-proof.
A number of cats have died from the virus either from contact with a sick or dead bird or by eating raw pet food contaminated with the disease.
"The virus survives very well with freezing, and so those processes do not actually kill the virus. And then similarly, we don't want anyone feeding any kind of raw, unpasteurized milk to themselves or to their pets. There is testing that can be done if people are concerned about avian influenza in their pets, especially if they are experiencing any respiratory signs or neurologic signs, like lethargy, weakness, tremors, seizures, things of that nature," Lewis said.
She says concerned pet owners should call their veterinary or emergency clinic describing the symptoms before going so the clinic can put together proper protocols to protect themselves and the other animals at the clinic.
"As well as, if you have dogs, make sure that if you're walking them, especially if you're hiking in the areas near waterways, that you have them on a leash, so that they're not able to go up to dead or dying wildlife and interact with their carcass at all. Definitely want to make sure that they're not ingesting any wildlife at this time, even non-bird species," Lewis said. "So it has been documented in a variety of mammals, so mostly our predator species, so such as bobcats, raccoons, coyotes, foxes, things like that, animals that are predators and or scavengers."
O'Keefe says it's important to maintain spaces for wild animals to balance a healthy co-existence with humans.
"And the more we can protect our wild spaces and make sure that we have clean waters for animals, that they're not stressed and that they have sufficient habitat, the healthier our wild animal populations are going to be. So, anytime you can participate in an activity that helps to, you know, promote good quality habitat for wildlife, that's going to help to reduce the risk of diseases like this spreading, because those wildlife will have all the food and the resources that they need to maintain their health. And they're going to then be less likely to transmit disease. So, keeping our waterways clean and unpolluted is important, especially since waterfowl are the primary spreaders of this virus."
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