HPAI Quarantine in Crawford County; 20-Kilometer Surveillance Zone Reaches Dubois County

The Indiana Board of Animal Health confirmed Feb. 27, 2026 that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza was detected at a commercial egg layer operation in Crawford County, labeling the flock "Crawford 01" and recording a flock size of 49,727 birds. BOAH placed the operation under quarantine and established a 10-kilometer control area that includes portions of Crawford and Dubois counties and a 20-kilometer surveillance zone that extends into portions of Crawford, Dubois, and Perry counties.

BOAH said testing will be offered to nearby non-commercial flock owners, and agency staff will contact owners inside the surveillance zone to arrange testing and verify the virus has not spread. State and federal partners are coordinating expanded surveillance and testing; the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources are assisting with targeted wild-bird surveillance and carcass sampling in and around the control area.

Dairy operations inside the 10-kilometer control area are being monitored as part of the ramped-up surveillance effort while movement restrictions are in place, and officials described the response as involving significant testing and paperwork for producers. Public-health partners are monitoring people who may have been exposed; BOAH materials stress coordination between animal-health and public-health teams without reporting any human infections tied to this detection.

The Crawford County quarantine joins multiple detections in Indiana this winter and early 2026. BOAH’s Feb. 26, 2026 statewide update (Update #97) listed contemporaneous cases including LaGrange 72, a commercial breeder duck flock of 3,827 birds, and LaGrange 73, a commercial egg layer flock of 23,730 birds, both under quarantine with active 10-kilometer control areas and 20-kilometer surveillance zones. The update also lists Hendricks 01, a small WOAH non-poultry flock of 61 birds, as quarantined.

State materials cited by BOAH frame the current H5N1 situation as the largest animal-health emergency in U.S. history and note that HPAI has been identified on more than 2,000 premises across all 50 states since February 2022. Indiana’s position as a leading national producer of ducks, eggs and turkeys places the state among those maintaining intensified surveillance during bird migration seasons.

BOAH said its HPAI dashboard on the state website is being updated to include the new Crawford 01 entry and related control-area status. Media inquiries may be directed to Denise Derrer Spears, Indiana State Board of Animal Health Public Information Director, at dderrer@boah.in.gov or 317-544-2414.

BOAH materials did not specify whether the affected flock will be depopulated or how long the control and surveillance zones will remain in effect; agency staff and partner organizations will use testing, wild-bird sampling and movement restrictions in the coming days to determine whether further actions are needed.