NBC News' Evan Bush reported this past weekend that "the simmering threat of bird flu may be inching closer to boiling over. This year has been marked by a series…
‘Tempo Has Increased’ in Bird Flu Spread in US
The New York Times’ Apoorva Mandavilli reported Monday that “when bird flu first struck dairy cattle a year ago, it seemed possible that it might affect a few isolated herds and disappear as quickly as it had appeared. Instead, the virus has infected more than 900 herds and dozens of people, killing one, and the outbreak shows no signs of abating.”
“A human pandemic is not inevitable, even now, more than a dozen experts said in interviews. But a series of developments over the past few weeks indicates that the possibility is no longer remote,” Mandavilli reported. “Toothless guidelines, inadequate testing and long delays in releasing data — echoes of the missteps during the Covid-19 pandemic — have squandered opportunities for containing the outbreak, the experts said.”
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“Since January 2022, when the virus was detected in wild aquatic birds in the United States, it has affected more than 136 million commercial, backyard and wild birds, helping to send egg prices soaring,” Mandavilli reported. “It has also struck dozens of mammalian species, including cats both wild and domesticated, raccoons, bears and sea lions. For at least a year, H5N1 has been infecting dairy cattle, which were not known to be susceptible to this type of influenza. In some cows, it has had lasting effects, reducing milk production and increasing the odds of spontaneous abortions.”
“And in 2024, the virus infected 67 Americans, compared with just one in the years before, in 2022. The sources of these infections are not all known; one person may have transmitted the virus to someone in their household,” Mandavilli reported. “Infections in dairy herds, which first emerged in Texas, appeared to be declining last summer. But in late August, California announced its first case. The state’s figures soon rose sharply, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a public health emergency in December.”
“‘That was sort of a flag to me, like, ‘OK, this hasn’t gone away,’” said Dr. Manisha Juthani, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health,” according to Mandavilli’s reporting. “‘Over the last couple of months, it has felt like the tempo has increased,’ she said.”
Bird Flu Outbreaks Increasing Egg Prices
USA Today’s Jonathan Limehouse and Mary Walrath-Holdridge reported Monday that “according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) price outlook, egg prices are predicted to increase about 20% in 2025, compared to about 2.2% for overall food prices. The USDA attributed the rise in egg costs to the highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, outbreak,which has caused a strain in supply.”
“The price hike is not sudden, as eggs cost 36.8% more in December 2024 than in December 2023, but were still below peak prices from January 2023, according to the USDA. The outlook says retail egg prices climbed 8.4% in December 2024 and continued to experience volatile month-to-month changes,” Limehouse and Walrath-Holdridge reported.
A fast-moving bird flu outbreak has sent egg prices skyrocketing. A rare strain of the virus has been detected on a farm in California, which was forced to destroy nearly 119,000 birds, according to a global health alert. @ErielleReshef reports. https://t.co/bxirAwtqjN pic.twitter.com/YJKMeqs81K
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) January 28, 2025
“With egg prices expected to rise, consumers could see a significant jump from December. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price of a dozen large, grade-A eggs was $4.15 in December, which was up from $3.65 in November,” Limehouse and Walrath-Holdridge reported. “…It’s unclear when the cost of eggs may return to a downward trend but it could be after 2025. One of the main determiners of the egg prices will be farmers and producers, and how long it takes them to recover their stocks of healthy laying hens.”
Outbreak Reported In No. 1 Chicken Producing State Georgia
Reuters Tom Polansek reported last week that “an outbreak of bird flu in poultry in the U.S. state of Georgia, the nation’s biggest chicken producer, is set to trigger trade restrictions from major meat importers, an industry group said on Tuesday, warning of a move that could financially harm farmers and processors.”
“A flock of 45,500 breeder chickens tested positive last week in Elbert County, Georgia, near the border with South Carolina, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It was the state’s first confirmed case in a commercial poultry operation, Georgia’s agriculture department said,” Polansek reported. “…An outbreak in a commercial flock typically triggers trade restrictions on poultry products from the county or state where the infected farm is located. The restrictions expected on Georgia’s poultry threaten producers and processors, such as Pilgrim’s Pride.”
“Initial losses for exports could be about $34 million, the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council said. Mexico, the biggest importer of U.S. poultry products, will likely halt purchases from Georgia for about two to four weeks, until it revises the ban to apply to the county, the industry group said,” Polansek reported. “Taiwan, the third-biggest importer of U.S. poultry, will block poultry imports from Georgia for six to eight months, the export council estimated. South Korea will likely impose a ban on Georgia’s poultry that should be lifted 28 days after the virus has been eliminated, a process that will likely take three to four months, the council said.”
More Rare H5N9 Strain Reported in California
Reuters’ reported Monday that “the United States has reported its first outbreak of H5N9 bird flu in poultry on a duck farm in California, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday.”
“U.S. authorities also detected the more common H5N1 strain on the same farm in Merced County, California, they said in a report to Paris-based WOAH, adding that the almost 119,000 birds on the farm had been killed by Dec. 2,” Reuters reported. “…The strain that has caused most damage in recent years has been H5N1. H5N9 is rarer.”