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U of Minnesota Raptor Center: serology finds high prior exposure to HPAI in bald eagles; center requests continued surveillance funding
Summary
The Raptor Center reported large-scale testing for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in raptors: PCR surveillance of admitted birds and blood-serology showing 78% prior exposure among tested bald eagles. The center asked LCCMR to continue multi-year surveillance and public reporting as an early warning system for wildlife and poultry.
The University of Minnesota Raptor Center told the commission on June 26 that its ongoing surveillance shows widespread exposure to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) among raptors admitted to its hospital and asked for continued funding to maintain and expand surveillance and public reporting.
Dr. Dana Franzen Klein, clinical wildlife veterinarian and medical director, said the Raptor Center has tested over 3,850 raptors for active HPAI infection since March 2022 and confirmed 225 positives, including 52 bald eagles. Separately the center has collected blood (serology) from over 2,400 raptors to check for antibodies indicating prior infection. "In our initial results for bald eagles, we found that 78 percent of the 97 bald eagles that we tested had antibodies in their blood to high path AI, meaning that 78 percent of the bald eagles we tested so far have survived past infection with high path AI," Franzen Klein said.
Why it matters: The findings suggest many raptors are surviving prior HPAI infection, complicating assumptions that the virus is uniformly fatal in raptors and raising the Raptor Center's role as an early-warning sentinel for wildlife and poultry exposure. The center emphasized the public-service value of testing every admitted raptor and of publishing geographic detail of positives to alert agricultural producers.
Questions and context: Commissioners asked how the proposed work differs from other HPAI surveillance funded earlier in the session. Franzen Klein said the center seeks to continue both PCR (active infection) testing of incoming patients and serology to track prior exposure and longer-term impacts. She said the center already shares basic surveillance numbers publicly but would expand location-based reporting if funded.
Next steps and request: The Raptor Center asked for multi-year funding to continue both active and serologic surveillance, to publicly report location detail and to study longer-term population impacts of HPAI on raptors.
Ending: Commissioners thanked the center and asked staff to consider how HPAI surveillance proposals interact and overlap across previously funded projects.
