Warren County Conservation wants to remind residents to stay up to date on the presence of avian influenza in the state of Iowa.
According to a DNR release, The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and its federal partners have been monitoring for the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Iowa’s wild birds since early 2022.
After nearly a year without detections in sick or dead birds, Iowa has seen a sharp jump in affected waterfowl across the state mostly, north of Interstate 80 since early December, spurred on by the stress of migration and the severe cold.
Avian influenza is a highly transmissible, naturally occurring virus found in certain waterfowl and shorebirds. The H5N1 strain that has been circulating since 2022 is the first time HPAI has affected wild birds in North America at such a large scale.
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