JohnInKansas, I'm well aware that H5 and H7 are the ones that are of concern, in particular H5N1. There has been some previous discussion on other threads including this one.

The outbreaks here in BC and Texas I believe were H5N2 and you are correct, large numbers of birds slaughtered, does not mean large numbers infected. It is usually a case of government overkill with the mind that it is better to be safe than sorry on a number of levels.

The article I quoted from in one of my previous posts was A Review of Avian Influenza which includes reported HPAI isolates from poultry since1959. It is interesting to note that H5N1 was reported in the UK in 1959 and again in 1991 before it was reported in Hong Kong in 1997.

It would seem that H5N1 has been reported in our domestic birds for almost 50 years. By the article, I would assume that saved samples probably were reprocessed to determine subtype at a later date. I believe that is what was hoped for with the unearthing of human bodies buried in Iceland who were victims of the Spanish Flu.

Before Worrying Over Avian Flu Know Your Viruses has some good information.

And lets hope the good people of Ohio don't find any H5N1 in something such as whooping cranes instead of ducks and chickens or it may be bye bye birdie and not by natural causes.

Here is more than one would ever care to know about Bird Flu.