March 2, 2026

Concern about bird flu seems to be growing steadily locally and nationally. Here in Pennsylvania, in a roundtable last week, Governor Josh Shapiro said the commonwealth is “in crisis mode when it comes to avian influenza,” adding that “Pennsylvania is really sadly at the epicenter of this.”

Among other steps, Shapiro’s administration is working with bird flu specialists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asking the federal government for regulatory changes to allow more veterinarians to work with the state veterinarian to diagnose more cases, urging the federal government to support creation of an avian flu vaccine and allocating $6 million to create a veterinary blood testing lab in Western Pennsylvania to improve surveillance.

According to the USDA, there are no current human cases of avian flu, but a rising number of dead wild birds and infections in other animals are raising questions about whether this is likely to spillover to humans in our region in the near future.

The Drexel News Blog asked Thersa Sweet, PhD, a teaching professor in Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health, to help sort out what we know and steps to minimize health risks.

Read the full Q&A with Sweet on the Drexel News Blog: Our Region Is Battling a Bird Flu Outbreak. Should We Be Worried?