Seven cases of H5N1 avian flu or bird flu have been reported in Michigan since December 16. The first case was discovered at a poultry facility in Ottawa County.
Avian flu circulates in wild birds and can infect poultry, causing illnesses classified as highly or low pathogenic. Michigan’s first cases in 2022 introduced a highly pathogenic strain. Dr. Kimberly Dodd, an infectious disease expert at Michigan State University, explains why that initial outbreak was unique.
“Generally, once it comes to wintertime, the number of cases drop off and sometimes that’s all we see of the outbreak and its results,” Dodd said. “In this case, the outbreak continued over the winter and spread across the entire country.”
This recent outbreak has affected more than 340,000 birds.
Dodd says early findings show the virus also infecting wild mammals, especially young carnivores and scavengers, later spreading to marine mammals near infected waterfowl.
