Live-bird market closure activities in the northeastern United States.

Over the last 10 years, low-pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) viruses have been isolated from the live-bird markets (LBMs) of the Northeast. Despite educational efforts, surveillance, and increased state regulatory efforts, the number of positive markets has persisted and increased. In an effort to address the continued levels of LPAI in the retail LBM and address the question of persistence and circulation of the virus within the LBM system itself, these markets were closed for a continuous 3-day period. This effort was a cooperative effort between the State Departments of Agriculture and coordinated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and led to the first successful system-wide closure of the retail LBMs in the Northeast.