With two cases of bird flu having been confirmed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus, local health officials are issuing advisories and at least one Franklin County farm is taking measures to protect its poultry.

The university’s announcement that two deceased Canada geese tested positive for the disease comes on the heels of the largest outbreak to date in Massachusetts when some 60 geese, swans and ducks at Billington Sea in Plymouth tested positive.

Bird flu, a colloquial name for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), is primarily an animal disease, but it can transmit to humans on rare occurrence. As a precaution, UMass placed signs near the Campus Pond warning visitors against feeding or touching geese, a university spokesperson said.

First identified in the state in 2022, towns in other parts of Massachusetts have reported outbreaks of fewer than 15 animals in the past several weeks. Massachusetts is one of at least 16 states across the country experiencing an outbreak of bird flu.

The Division of Fisheries and Wildlife suggests avoiding handling wild birds and keeping pets away from areas with known outbreaks. Humans with prolonged contact with sick or dead birds are most likely to contract HPAI.

In Franklin County, Diemand Farm in Wendell has a new policy that asks visitors to the farm store to wipe their feet using a bleach solution before they enter — a policy the owners say is there to protect from HPAI impacting their flock as the disease nears.

Diemand Farm co-owner Anne Diemand Bucci said the farm had been in contact with MassWildlife about their concerns in the wake of the reports of sick and dying geese in Amherst, as well as the reports of sick and dying geese on Migratory Way in Turners Falls in late December 2024.

Diemand Bucci reports the MassWildlife representative she spoke with informed her that the geese in Turners Falls were not confirmed to be interacting with the sick geese in Amherst. MassWildlife Assistant Director of Outreach and Education Nicole McSweeney wrote in an email that officials are working to collect, test and safely dispose of dead birds as they are reported.

“This is a developing situation and testing results from Turners Falls are not available at this time,” McSweeney wrote in an email.

When staff started receiving calls from the public about the geese in Amherst, Diemand Bucci said the farm reached out to the MassWildlife representative, who in turn confirmed that the two dead geese in Amherst had tested positive for HPAI, prompting Diemand Farm to enact its foot washing policy.

“Avian influenza has been creeping closer to farms like ours, and if it were to reach us, we’d face devastating consequences — all of our birds would need to be depopulated. That’s a risk we just can’t take,” reads Diemand Farm’s Facebook post from Jan. 18, where the new policy was announced. “We ask everyone to take a moment to wipe their feet as they come in. It’s a small step that makes a big difference in keeping potential contaminants out.”

Diemand Farm raises its own poultry, including chickens and turkeys, that the farm also processes. Diemand Bucci said the farm has about 2,500 laying hens and young hens, and if the farm were to have positive tests of HPAI, “It would be devastating.” Co-owner Tessa White-Diemand added that the farm would need to be depopulated, and “That would be all of our poultry, and we’re a poultry farm.”

Other Franklin County organizations are taking notice of HPAI. The Franklin Regional Council of Governments’ (FRCOG) Cooperative Public Health Service posted an advisory on Facebook about bird flu, and FRCOG Health Educator and Epidemiologist Maureen O’Reilly confirmed that the “big takeaway” is that risk of bird flu to the general public is low.

O’Reilly said there is a higher risk to those who are handling sick and dead birds, and personal protective equipment (PPE) like masks and gloves is recommended in these situations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 67 U.S. cases of bird flu infections in humans since 2024. One person, a 65-year-old Louisiana man with underlying health conditions, died after he was likely exposed to the virus from wild birds and a non-commercial backyard flock, the Louisiana Department of Health reported earlier this month.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced earlier this month that it has awarded $306 million to monitor this outbreak and prepare for more human infections. More than half of that will go to regional, state and local programs.

Earlier avian flu outbreaks have proven especially deadly for humans, causing roughly half of the infected to die. This current version of avian flu seems to be less dangerous, causing mild respiratory illness and conjunctivitis, better known as pink eye, according to the CDC.

Other symptoms include coughing, fever, muscle aches and fatigue. Symptoms usually last up to two weeks. More severe cases can cause pneumonia, organ damage, septic shock and death. It’s not clear how long people are contagious, but scientists believe it’s similar to seasonal influenza, according to the CDC.

The state agencies encourage people to report observations of sick or deceased birds if five or more birds are found at a single location using the form at mass.gov/reportbirds. The public can also report sick or dead poultry or other domestic birds by calling MDAR’s Division of Animal Health at 617-626-1795.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com.