Avian Influenza Surveillance Program

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health is responsible for safeguarding the health of livestock and poultry. This includes monitoring and controlling any animal disease transmissible to humans. We are keeping a close watch on avian influenza overseas and we are prepared to respond in an appropriate manner if AI is found here.

Federal and state agencies are working together with Minnesota's poultry industry to respond to avian influenza (AI). The state's voluntary cooperative AI control plan includes education, monitoring, reporting, and response.

Many poultry farms are located in areas where waterfowl are found in greatest numbers. This means that low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) has been found a number of times in Minnesota poultry flocks over the past 30 years. In spite of this, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has never emerged from Minnesota poultry. To date, every introduction of AI in Minnesota has been successfully and quickly eliminated.

The reason behind this success is the state's cooperative surveillance program with the Minnesota's poultry industry. In 1986, Minnesota was among the first states to work with turkey growers to establish a program to identify infected flocks. The Board recently created a similar monitoring program for the state's commercial egg and broiler producers.

The Board, along with the University of Minnesota, established the Minnesota Poultry Testing Laboratory (MPTL) in Willmar, MN in the 1960s solely for poultry testing. Tests for both commercial and non-commercial poultry flocks are completed at the MPTL.