Concern rises after positive cases found in wild birds and poultry in Delaware’s Kent County and on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

State laboratory testing detected H5N1 avian influenza (HPAI), more commonly known as bird flu, at a poultry farm in Caroline County, according to the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The case, the first at a Maryland commercial poultry operation since 2023,

Outbreaks of bird flu have been detected at three poultry operations in Maryland and Delaware, putting the Washington, D.C., metro area on high alert as bird flu outbreaks have been increasing nationwide.