H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation

What to know

  • H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers.
  • While the current public health risk is low, CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures.
  • CDC is using its flu surveillance systems to monitor for H5 bird flu activity in people.
H5N1 Bird Flu How is it Spreading?

Current situation

H5 Bird Flu Detections in USA‎

• Dairy cattle: Ongoing multi-state outbreak



• Wild Birds: Widespread

• Poultry Flocks: Sporadic outbreaks

• Mammals: Sporadic infections

• Person-to-person spread: None

• Current public health risk: Low

Human Case Summary during the 2024 outbreak, by state and exposure source

Exposure Source

Exposure Source
State Cattle Poultry Unknown State Total
California 6 0 0 6
Colorado 1 9 0 10
Michigan 2 0 0 2
Missouri 0 0 1 1
Texas 1 0 0 1
Source Total 10 9 1 20
  • NOTE: One additional case was previously detected in a poultry worker in Colorado in 2022

H5 Monitoring in People‎

CDC influenza (flu) surveillance systems show no indicators of unusual influenza activity in people, including avian influenza A(H5).

National flu surveillance (since February 25, 2024)

Targeted H5 surveillance (since March 24, 2024)

Detections in Animals

  • 10,387 wild birds detected as of 10/8//2024 | Full Report
  • 51 jurisdictions with bird flu in wild birds
  • 100,781,821 poultry affected as of 10/8/2024 | Full Report
  • 48 states with outbreaks in poultry
  • 299 dairy herds affected as of 10/11/2024 | Full Report
  • 14 states with outbreaks in dairy cows

These data will be updated daily, Monday through Friday, after 4 p.m. to reflect any new data.

Cumulative data on wild birds have been collected since January 20, 2022. Cumulative data on poultry have been collected since February 8, 2022. Cumulative data on humans in the U.S. have been collected since April 28, 2022. Cumulative data on dairy cattle have been collected since March 25, 2024.

What CDC is doing

Protective Actions for People