Oregon, U.S. agriculture agencies lift Deschutes County quarantine imposed due to avian influenza outbreaks
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a request by the Oregon Department of Agriculture to lift a regional quarantine in Deschutes County, imposed due to recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza among backyard chickens and ducks.
ODA implemented the quarantine on July 12 after confirming highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a backyard flock of chickens and ducks. HPAI is an infectious and deadly disease in birds. The state has confirmed 11 cases of HPAI in 5 Oregon counties.
Six cases of HPAI were confirmed in Deschutes County from July 12-22. Because four of the affected flocks were backyard producers, selling eggs to the public, a regional quarantine was implemented covering the city of Bend and extending north through the southern half of Redmond. It also affected the Deschutes County Fair, where 4-H and FFA members did not exhibit birds due to the outbreaks.
Due to federal and international disease control requirements, after a confirmed case of HPAI in a producer poultry flock, a regional quarantine for all avian species and vehicle traffic involved with avian species (under the authority of (ORS 596.402) must be issued for an area extending a minimum of 10 kilometers or about 6 miles around the infected property.
The purpose of the quarantine was to prevent the movement of poultry from within the affected area, giving state and federal officials time to conduct surveillance to ensure no additional cases of HPAI exist.
The quarantine also applies to importing all birds from states where a state or federal quarantine is in place.
The quarantine was lifted after ODA completed two rounds of surveillance in the affected area, starting after the humane euthanasia and disposal of the infected birds.
A map of all active ​outbreak areas in Oregon, as well as the quarantine areas is available online.
ODA is asking backyard poultry owners to please increase biosecurity and keep domesticated birds separated from wild birds, especially waterfowl. The risk of HPAI to human health is low, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
If you have poultry that appears sick or has died of respiratory or neurological disease, please call 503-986-4711 (Alt Phone: 1-800-347-7028) or email AHHotline@oda.oregon.gov.
If you see sick or dead wild birds, do not collect, or handle them but report the incident directly to ODFW at 866-968-2600 or Wildlife.Health@odfw.oregon.gov.
For more information about HPAI, please visit ODA’s Avian Influenza web pages (Spanish). To receive news and updates on avian influenza in Oregon, sign up by email at https://oda.direct/AI.
