Bird Flu: What You Need to Know

Bird flu is the name of a group of viruses that affect wild and farmed birds. You may have also heard it called avian influenza.

There are at least 15 different types of bird flu. Most of them are mild or low pathenogenic, which means the birds get sick but do not die. Some viruses, however, are severe or high pathenogenic, which means the birds get very sick and may die.

However, there was a severe outbreak of bird flu in Asia in 2004. Thousands of chickens, ducks, geese and other farmed poultry caught this bird flu and died. Millions more birds were killed to stop the H5N1 (Asia) virus - which is what health experts named it - from spreading.

Some people in Asia also caught this virus. Some even died. Experts believe that those people had very close contact with the sick birds.

Keeping bird flu out

Although the H5N1 (Asia) virus has shown up in parts of Asia, Africa and Europe, there have been no cases of the disease reported in Canada or the United States.

The Ontario government is working with the federal government, the other provinces and the poultry industry to make sure we are prepared to handle this virus, in case it ever appears in Ontario, or in any part of Canada. These are some of the programs we are currently working on:

The federal government has tightened the rules about bringing birds into Canada. This will reduce the risk of bringing bird flu into the country. For up-to-date information on import rules, visit the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website.
Poultry producers and their associations have developed strict guidelines to protect farmed birds from getting bird flu. For more information on these biosecurity measures, see Tips for poultry farmers.
The Wild Bird AI (Avian Influenza) Survey is a testing program that will provide early warning if any high pathogenic strains of bird flu like H5N1 (Asia) are found in Canada. Researchers are also using the results of this survey to learn more about bird flu viruses. For more information, see the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre website.

Learn more

For the most up-to-date information about bird flu, see the World Health Organization (WHO) avian influenza website.