The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is encouraging poultry producers and other bird owners to be especially vigilant about the signs and symptoms of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).

While no cases have yet been confirmed in Marion and Warren Counties, there have been  three confirmed cases in northwest Iowa since October 20th. Signs of HPAI include a lack of energy or appetite, decreases in egg production, swelling of the head, eyelids, comb, wattles, and hocks, and sudden increases in bird deaths without any clinical signs. While it is often fatal to domestic bird populations, it does not present a public health concern. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig says that while it’s not uncommon for livestock producers to deal with illness, that it’s important to notify officials of foreign animal diseases.

“Livestock producers deal with all kinds of diseases and illnesses on a regular basis, but a foreign animal disease is different, we have to treat it differently. We have to quarantine sites, we have to euthanize those birds, unfortunately, and then we have to dispose of all the material on a farm in a particular way. The whole point is that we’re trying to prevent the spread of that virus to other farms, really trying to keep it contained where it is.”

Commercial and backyard flock owners should prevent contact between their birds and wild birds, and report sick birds or unusual deaths to state or federal officials. For more information on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, including a full list of symptoms and biosecurity resources, click here.