HARRISBURG, PA. – Pennsylvania state officials recently provided an update on highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) along with necessary steps taken in the most recent budget proposals.

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture stated in late January that the first confirmed case of HPAI in 2025 was a 50,000-bird flock located on a commercial poultry farm in Lehigh County.

Birds tested by the PA Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS) showed a high level of H5N1 virus strain. Test results were subsequently confirmed in a US Department of Agriculture veterinary diagnostic lab.

Officials added that several commercial poultry farms in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and Lehigh countries are presumed to be HPAI positive due to the presence of the virus in the initial samples.

Recent numbers showed the H5N1 virus caused the loss of 22.75 million birds across the United States in the last 30 days as of Feb. 6.

“Pennsylvania continues to take swift, aggressive action to protect our farmers and our dairy and poultry industries from avian influenza,” said Russell Redding, agriculture secretary of Pennsylvania. “The bipartisan investments Governor Josh Shapiro has championed since he took office have been critical in our ability to respond to what has been the most devastating animal health crisis in American history. The investments he proposed in his budget address will be equally critical to our continued ability to respond and protect our agriculture industry and the economy that depends on it.”

Pennsylvania officials have confirmed that there are no infections in dairy cattle or humans, even with the virus infecting dairy cattle in the western United States.

The 2025-26 budget by the governor’s office will look to invest $2 million to keep an animal testing laboratory in the western part of the state operational, providing critical testing services for farmers.

The lab, funded in 2024-25, extended the capacity of three existing PADLS labs, tested more than 207,000 poultry samples in 2024 for HPAI and more than 17,000 tests of bulk milk samples since Nov. 2024 and hundreds of thousands of other animal disease tests.

Officials will also plan to add $13 million to the Ag Innovation Fund. During its first process last year, the fund received 159 applications from nearly $70 million of innovation projects. Grants from the 2024-25 budget were awarded in February, earmarking funds for technology and supporting the development of sustainable farms.