How much has bird flu spread in WA?

At a small family farm in Fall City, there are signs a certain virus is often top of mind.

Workers change shoes when entering and leaving the property. New birds typically aren’t brought onto the farm. Each type of animal, from chickens to mini donkeys, is kept in separate, enclosed areas — no milling about in the grass outside together.

Some of these practices at Baxter Barn have been in place for over a decade, but others have emerged more recently as yet another respiratory virus threat looms large: highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu.

Many local farm owners, like Cory Huskinson at Baxter Barn, have yet to see their own outbreaks but still cautiously watch the latest ebb and flow of bird flu. Huskinson has dozens of chicks, hens, ducks, pheasants and other animals to keep safe.

“If I get avian flu, I could lose them all,” Huskinson said. “We’ve been doing this for 15 years — that would break my heart.”

The current outbreak of this persisting virus has lasted for about three years now. The virus has so far largely spared human health, but its spread has ravaged parts of the economy and our daily lives — by sickening and killing millions of birds and other animals, causing alarm among poultry and dairy farmers, and, perhaps most notably to the public, raising the price of eggs.

“This is an animal health emergency,” said Dr. Amber Itle, state veterinarian with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, which is helping lead the outbreak response here.

Bird flu cases in Washington since the current outbreak began

The current outbreak has affected 2,167,079 birds in three commercial and 52 backyard flocks. The last reported detection was Feb. 10 in Mason County.

USDA (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)

Bird flu has been confirmed in more than 166 million U.S. commercial, backyard and wild birds since January 2022, the start of the outbreak that has quickly grown into the worst the country’s ever seen. About 2.2 million of those birds were found in Washington state, where 52 backyard flocks and three commercial flocks have tested positive, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

There have also been 14 probable human cases here, all among people who were in direct contact with dead, sick poultry at a commercial farm and who experienced mild symptoms.

Human cases of bird flu in Washington and the U.S.

Washington has recorded 11 confirmed and three probable human cases of bird flu since the start of 2024. Nationwide, 70 confirmed and seven probable cases have been recorded, with one death in Louisiana. The CDC says the health risk to the public remains low, though people who work directly with infected animals are at increased risk.

CDC, WHO, Louisiana Department of Health (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)

So far, the good news is Type A H5N1 virus is not being transmitted from live animals to humans, Itle said. It also hasn’t jumped between live mammals, though there’s evidence it has spilled from wild birds to cows. That basically means each mammal that’s become sick has likely been exposed independently — rather than spreading among mammals, she said.

The bad news?

“We have lost millions” of birds and mammals, Itle said. “This has had a huge animal impact.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains that the risk of the virus to humans is low. But combating bird flu has been distressing for farms that raise poultry, as well as those with beloved backyard flocks, as all are instructed to euthanize the entire group if one bird tests positive. Some don’t have the money to implement large-scale prevention measures, and the ones that do still constantly worry that what they’re doing isn’t enough.

“We’re all not sleeping well at night,” said Brent Wilcox, CEO of Wilcox Farms, one of the largest egg farmers in the Pacific Northwest. “We’re trying to figure out the worst-case scenario and say, ‘How are we going to react?’”

A toll on wildlife

Bird flu has been around for centuries. It has historically mostly circulated among wild waterfowl, and for a long time, cases were generally mild or “low pathogenic,” meaning they were less severe.

Then it spilled into poultry, said Dr. Katie Haman, state wildlife veterinarian with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. After moving into poultry, the virus mutated, continued to spread and gained highly pathogenic traits.

Two major strains are currently circulating in the United States: D1.1, typically in wild birds, and B3.13, in dairy cows. The B3.13 strain has been detected in Washington, but only in captive wildcats and two domestic cats. All farm and wild animals here have been infected by the D1.1 strain.

What’s strange about the D1.1 strain, which is circulating in North America and much of the world, is that it’s somehow being “maintained on the landscape,” Haman said.

Other strains typically run their course and then mostly disappear when birds disperse during warmer weather, she said, but this one has remained constant. What core species, in addition to wild waterfowl, is maintaining it is a “big unknown that definitely needs research,” Haman said.

The country’s last bird flu outbreak, from 2014 to 2015, killed about 50 million animals and cost the federal government over $1 billion, Bloomberg reported. The current outbreak has already wiped out more than three times that number.

The virus generally spreads among animals through saliva, mucus and feces, or contact with contaminated surfaces. It can also be transmitted through consuming infected animal meat or raw, unpasteurized milk. People rarely become infected, but it can happen if they’re close to a sick animal and inhale virus particles, or if the virus gets into their eyes, nose or mouth, according to the CDC.

Symptoms in people have generally been mild, though one person in Louisiana, who was over 65 and had underlying health conditions, died after becoming sick.

Bird flu symptoms reported in people

Among 71 human cases of bird flu in the U.S. and Canada, the most common symptom reported is conjunctivitis, or “pink eye.” With the small sample size, it’s too early to tell if this is significant.

World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization (Fiona Martin / The Seattle Times)

Since early 2022, the number of cases in Washington wildlife has ballooned to over 400, and has included geese, owls, crows, raccoons, skunks and more, according to the WDFW.

In 2023, more than half a colony of Caspian terns on Rat Island, near Port Townsend, was decimated by the virus. More than 1,000 adult terns and over 500 chicks died, delivering a blow to a species already in decline, Haman said then.

More mammals in recent months have become victims of the virus, including two cougars on the Olympic Peninsula who were found in December.

While the state has expanded surveillance and testing for bird flu over the last several years, it’s still hard to know how prevalent the virus actually is among wildlife.

“We’re just cautiously continuing to do the work we’re doing, and just being aware that at any point the risk may become elevated,” Haman said.

There are fairly robust efforts here to track the outbreak, including collaborating with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine mammal stranding response program, a nationwide network that coordinates emergency response to sick or dead animals. The state’s wildlife and agriculture agencies also work with Washington State University’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, which diagnoses and tracks animal diseases.

Together, they do their best to learn about the virus in Washington wildlife and domestic animals. But when a test from a harbor seal in Mason County returned presumptively positive in January, animal response teams were surprised.

“We hadn’t heard of any big outbreaks anywhere, so we weren’t expecting it,” said Jessie Huggins, stranding coordinator at the Cascadia Research Collective, an Olympia-based research nonprofit that works with NOAA’s nationwide network to respond to wildlife incidents.

Researchers aren’t sure if the seal’s case was a one-off marine mammal infection, or the “tip of the iceberg,” Haman said.

“What are the chances that one seal hauls out, gets infected with high path avian influenza from some feces on the beach — and then we find that seal?” Haman said. “How many others could there be? We don’t know.”

Protecting poultry

As the bird flu outbreak plays out in wildlife here and nationwide, Wilcox pays close attention to the virus’s toll on farms. There’s a lot to think about when considering the future of his family’s fourth-generation 1,600-acre egg farm in Pierce County.

For years now, Wilcox has joined regular conference calls where other egg farmers throughout the country share their experiences with individual outbreaks, talk mitigation strategies and ask questions.

Wilcox Farms, whose main location is in Roy, has implemented several changes to protect staff and animals, and so far has been spared from bird flu. Employees who go into chicken houses shower every morning before entering and when leaving, and change clothes when going between facilities. Trucks and vehicles are washed every day, and lasers and noisemakers attempt to keep wild birds away at night.

“It’s really taxing on the people who work here, especially the mechanics and electricians who go from house to house, facility to facility,” Wilcox said. “But we’re just clear to everyone: Our future is dependent on following those rules.”

In Washington, all three commercial farm outbreaks have occurred in Franklin County, wiping out more than 2 million chickens, the CDC says.

At smaller farms, dealing with bird flu has been especially difficult after five years of COVID-related financial challenges.

At Baxter Barn in Fall City, Huskinson feels the risk of an outbreak on his property is minimal, as long as they keep up safety measures.

“We’re not going to forget the practices we do,” he said.

Other farms, like Palouse Pastured Poultry in Spokane County, just can’t afford a ton of changes.

Chickens there run around small, outdoor huts, grazing as they please within an electric-fenced area. It’s hard to prevent wild birds from eating out of the same troughs as the chickens, said Allen Widman, who runs the fifth-generation farm that makes its own grain, produces eggs and processes birds.

“I imagine we’re looking at a problem going forward, but we really don’t have a cage system in place where we can do real biosecurity,” Widman said. “We try not to worry and keep moving forward. Whether or not we have to start over, it’s just part of our journey.”

Closer to home

In some homes and backyards, the risk of bird flu can also bring constant worry.

Holly Stevens, who keeps two chickens in their Seattle yard, decided to drape plastic netting over the outdoor coop, which is surrounded by an 8-by-10-foot fence.

They hope to better protect Speckle, a black-and-white Plymouth Barred Rock, and Eggnog, a tan Easter Egger, though Stevens knows their setup isn’t perfect. Poop from birds that are infected and flying overhead could still fall through the netting, for example.

“I’m trying to strike a balance between trying to avoid something and living my life,” said Stevens, 31. “We’re doing what we can.”

Bird flu has been detected in more than 50 backyard flocks in Washington. No backyard chicken owners here have become infected to date, though last month a flock owner in Wyoming ended up in the hospital after testing positive for the virus. The person who died in Louisiana was also exposed to a backyard flock, along with wild birds.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture recommends keeping backyard chickens confined and preventing them from coming into contact with wild birds, among other strategies.

Zander Feveyear, who lives on Vashon Island, opted to install a coop cover made of corrugated metal. The roof now hangs over an enclosed space, surrounded by hardware cloth, where his 17 Serama show chickens live.

He also dips his boots in a diluted bleach solution when he leaves the fenced area, and switches shoes in and out of the coop.

“You do not want to be a contributor to the spread of this disease,” said Feveyear, 22, who’s also a licensed judge with the Serama Council of North America. “You also get these chickens and just love them. They’ve all got fantastic, individual personalities. … I don’t want anybody to lose these beloved pets they get.”

Around Puget Sound, and in other parts of the country, different species at zoos, wildlife sanctuaries and other animal centers also face risks of exposure and death from the virus.

Two red-breasted geese at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle died from bird flu in November. A wildlife sanctuary on Harstine Island reported an outbreak that killed 20 big cats last year.

Last week, two pet cats in Snohomish and King counties tested positive after eating raw pet food; one was euthanized.

While the virus hasn’t changed much over the last three years, it still remains unpredictable in some ways, like other infectious disease pathogens.

In early February, the USDA announced dairy cows in Nevada had, for the first time, become infected with the D1.1 strain, which until then had just spread among wild birds and poultry.

Haman, with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, tries to stay positive. Virus surveillance in many places, including here, has fallen into a good rhythm. Talk of approving bird flu vaccines in the U.S. has intensified.

“I think that’s all we can do: try and keep our heads up,” Haman said. “And do the best that we can to try and ensure all the species around us are as resilient as possible in the face of all these challenges.”

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