Shipping samples for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) cases

Tim Pasma, Jennifer Zoethout

Animal Health Laboratory, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON.

AHL Newsletter 2025;29(4):4.

With the fall migration of birds underway, there is an elevated risk for avian influenza. If you suspect a case of HPAI, you must contact your local CFIA District Office for guidance.

When swabbing birds, please use viral transport media tubes with swabs because swabs with wooden handles are not suitable for testing. On the tubes, indicate whether the samples are oropharyngeal (OP) or cloacal (CL) and pool the swabs by 10 birds. Do not mix oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs in the same tube.

After swabbing the bird, swirl the swab in the media, squeeze out the fluid from the swab on the inside of the tube and discard the swab. After collecting the samples, disinfect the outside of the tubes, double bag the samples, and disinfect the outside bag.

If you deliver the samples to the lab, please do not enter our facility but remain in your vehicle and call 519-824-4120 ext. 54530 in Guelph or 613-258-8320 in Kemptville. A staff member will come to your vehicle and retrieve your samples. If you send the samples by courier, put an “S” for suspect or “M” for monitoring on the outside of the box. This will alert staff that the samples are to be tested for HPAI. Do not put any other samples with submissions for HPAI testing.

Birds that are submitted for postmortem may be tested for HPAI before the postmortem is started. This may result in slight delays in reporting postmortem results.