What happens if a positive sample is found?
Because of the threat they pose to domestic poultry, highly pathogenic H5 or H7 viruses are reportable diseases, meaning that laboratories are required to report them. If the national USDA lab determines that an H5 or H7 strain of avian influenza is highly pathogenic, the lab will immediately notify federal and state officials and the findings will be announced. It is important to remember that such a finding from a wild bird sample does not mean that human health is in any immediate danger. In other countries where human avian influenza cases have occurred, people became ill after very close contact with sick or dead domestic birds.
