---
title: Most of the 1,171 Dairy Herds Hit by Bird Flu Were Infected in 2024
description: The running count of H5N1-infected dairy herds passed 1,171, but yearly detections have fallen sharply since 2024. Idaho and Utah are driving the current flare-up.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-08-07T17:24:13.472Z
canonical: https://richhealthmagazine.com/article/bird-flu-1171-dairy-herds-2024-utah-idaho
categories: Everyday Wellness
content_type: Analysis
region: United States
publication: Rich Health Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

Another Utah dairy herd has tested positive for H5N1 bird flu, the state's 29th, bringing the number of infected herds since March 2024 to 1,171 across 19 states. Helen Branswell, who covers infectious disease for STAT, reported the figure in a post on X. Nearly all of that total was reached in the outbreak's first year.

The Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service logged 917 detections in cattle in 2024, the year the virus was first found in cows. It logged 171 in 2025, and 81 have been confirmed so far this year. Those three yearly counts come to 1,169, within two of the running total.

## The Current Flare-Up Sits in Idaho and Utah

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