Avian Flu Confirmed in 2 Backyard Pacific Northwest Flocks

Microbiologist Anne Vandenburg-Carroll tests poultry samples collected from a farm located in a control area for the presence of avian influenza, or bird flu, at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on March 24, 2022. Scott Olson/Getty Images

PORTLAND, Ore.—An avian flu that’s spreading quickly across the U.S. has been detected in the Pacific Northwest in two backyard bird flocks in rural Oregon and Washington.

Several geese in a non-commercial flock of about 100 waterfowl died suddenly on a farm in Linn County, Oregon, and federal authorities confirmed Friday that they died of the avian flu. It was the state’s first case since 2015. Also Friday, authorities in Washington state received word that chickens and turkeys in a flock of about 50 birds at a noncommercial farm in Pacific County, Washington, also had the disease.