Avian flu has been detected at a commercial poultry farm in Suffolk County, county health officials announced Tuesday.
The farm’s name was not released by the county, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monitoring site identified it as a commercial duck meat producer with a flock of 101,000.
None of the farmworkers who may have been exposed are currently ill, according to county health officials. The farm is currently in quarantine.
Avian flu had previously been detected in Suffolk in 2022 and 2023 in a backyard flock and non-poultry birds.
The duck farm owner told authorities he saw signs of illness in his flock last week and that test results showed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), also known as the name H5N1.
Health Department staff will test workers who may have been exposed and provide preventative medications to those most at risk, officials said.
“The risk to public health is minimal because the virus is not transmissible between humans at this point,” Dr. Gregson Pigott, Suffolk’s health commissioner, said in a statement.
“A thorough investigation is underway as there is some potential for transmission of H5N1 avian influenza from infected birds to individual farm workers who have been exposed to high risk,” he added.
H5N1 avian influenza is widespread among wild birds and outbreaks have occurred on poultry farms as well as in dairy cows in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 67 human cases have been reported in the United States. The majority are in California and Colorado. Earlier this month, a man in Louisiana who was exposed to sick and dead birds in a backyard flock died.
So far, no human cases have been reported in New York and no cases detected in the state’s dairy cows.
To report sick or dead birds, call the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets at 518-457-3502 for poultry, or the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation New York at 518-478-2203 for wild birds.
Lisa joined Newsday as an editor in 2019. She previously worked for amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press, covering politics, government and general assignments.
