Authorities in Plymouth, Massachusetts, warned the public Sunday that more than 60 birds found dead in the Billington Sea are suspected to have died from highly pathogenic avian influenza.
On Sunday morning, members of Clean Harbor Waste Management, contracted by the state Department of Environmental Protection, and state officials responded to the Billington Sea and removed numerous carcasses of geese, swans and other wildlife from the pond.
A day earlier, the state ornithologist told town officials that a goose carcass removed from Plymouth was “highly suspicious” of avian influenza.
Officials said it could take up to a week for a final answer because there is only one laboratory in the United States that can officially confirm positive cases of bird flu.
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(Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File)
Still, state officials say they will begin testing the birds removed from Billington Sea to determine the official cause of death.
State and local authorities urge the public to avoid contact with sick or dead wild birds and other animals that may be infected with avian influenza viruses, and to wear protective equipment when contact with wild animals is unavoidable. He recommended that.
Avian influenza can be spread through direct contact between birds, so people who raise poultry should also take precautions.
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A pair of influenza A (H5N1) virus particles, a type of avian influenza virus. (Cynthia Goldsmith, Jackie Katz/CDC via AP/File)
Plymouth Public Health Director Karen Keene said: “Poultry owners should keep their birds away from wild waterfowl, limit the number of people who have access to flocks, and if they share equipment with other bird owners, keep their birds away from wild waterfowl. We need to clean and disinfect between them.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says handling infected birds is unlikely to lead to illness in humans. However, since 2022, there have been 67 human cases of avian influenza, 66 of which occurred in 2024.
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In fact, safety measures continue to increase as cases of bird flu continue to surface across the United States.
The CDC on Thursday issued recommendations for faster and more thorough testing of hospitalized influenza A patients to distinguish between seasonal influenza and avian influenza.
The accelerated “subtyping” of influenza A in hospitalized patients is in response to “sporadic human infections” of avian influenza, the CDC said in a press release.
The goal is to prevent delays in identifying avian influenza infections and facilitate better patient care, “timely infection control” and case investigation, the agency said.
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According to the CDC, these delays are more likely to occur during flu season due to the high number of cases.
Fox News Digital’s Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.
