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As bird flu ravages poultry industry, the damage spreads
February 2, 2025 / 10:19 AM EST / CBS News
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/as-bird-flu-ravages-poultry-industry-the-damage-spreads/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIN0OhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQ_9RTLe2u66WiYL7Nl3xscxHJ_52DcCUFTD_SUCYcrsOyVmXDEcAOhWNA_aem_YWZh1rKKrFwF8EGUlatIuA
There are seven generations of Corwins in the Aquebogue, Long Island, town cemetery. Their graves overlook the farm that’s been in the family since the 1640s. Some family members’ tombstones are adorned with ducks. “I’m gonna say it was my grandfather’s idea, because he did it first,” said Doug Corwin.
It was Corwin’s great-grandfather who started raising ducks in 1908, when Long Island was famous for its duck farms. Now, Crescent Duck Farm is the only one left. It produced a million ducks a year, until two weeks ago, when bird flu shut the farm down. Corwin said, “I saw a flock one day that was great, and the next day was lethargic, wasn’t eating. It looked like something I’d never seen before.”
Dozens of state and local agricultural workers, dressed in biohazard suits, assisted in the euthanasia of the entire flock – 100,000 ducks. Whether it’s ducks or chickens, since the current strain of bird flu, H5N1, reached the United States in 2022, over 148 million birds have been ordered euthanized.
“It’s a staggering number, there is no doubt,” said Jodie Guest, a professor of epidemiology with Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. “But it is, and always has been a policy across administrations, with the USDA, that this is how they handle infections like this among poultry. And as we’ve seen bird flu move [across] species, it becomes even more important to try to contain that infection in the flocks that it’s in, so that we don’t continue to see spread.”
Except that’s exactly what has happened. H5N1, Guest said, was in all 50 states by the end of 2023, transmitted by wild birds through their feces and saliva. “So, in 2024 we saw bird flu jump from our poultry and wild birds, to mammals, to cows. And that was a very startling change,” she said.
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Until 2024, there was only one human case in the U.S. In just a few months, the number jumped to 67, with one death. Most of those cases were workers at dairy operations and poultry farms. They experienced mild symptoms.
Guest said, “So far, we’ve not seen human-to-human transmission, and that would have to happen in order for us to be on the verge of an epidemic or a pandemic.” She added, however, that she is not scared of that happening: “I feel very strongly that human risk is still very, very low.”
But the spread of H5N1 is not being contained … and look what culling has already done to the price and availability of eggs.
The issue has become politicized. Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “The Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore lack of egg supply, which is leading to a shortage.” In fact, the last Trump administration followed the same policy.
Doug Corwin says, “A vaccine program is the only thing that’s gonna get us out of this.”
The proposal is controversial: allow poultry farmers to vaccinate their birds against H5N1, something theoretically doable but currently forbidden, because it would cripple U.S. poultry exports to the many countries which ban vaccinated birds. “The disease is becoming much bigger than the export situation, because the disease is so getting out of hand right now,” Corwin said.
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Corwin can’t decide which is worse: losing 100,000 ducks, or having to lay off 48 people.
I said, “You seem ambivalent about whether or not you even want to try again?”
“Martha, think about what I’ve been through over the last two weeks,” Corwin replied. “It’s devastating, utterly devastating. It reminds me of losing both of my parents, that sudden … that grief. It’s just that feeling like you’ve lost something that’s part of you.”
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Bird flu crisis enters new phase
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Dozens of newly confirmed cases of avian influenza in wild birds and the first verified U.S. case of a new strain of the virus are raising concern the bird flu crisis may be entering a troubling new phase.
Why it matters: While the developments don’t necessarily raise the risk of a pandemic, they could create more havoc for farmers, exacerbate egg shortages and expose more gaps in government disease surveillance.
- The outbreak is intensifying as the Trump administration maintains a pause on most external federal health agency communications, including publication of CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a venerable source of scientific reports on public health.
Driving the news: The Department of Agriculture last week confirmed 81 detections of highly pathogenic avian flu in wild birds collected across 24 states between Dec. 29 and Jan. 17.
- Wild birds can be infected and show no signs of illness, allowing them to spread the virus to new areas and potentially expose domestic poultry.
- Officials in Pennsylvania and New York have culled thousands of wild geese, as well as commercial poultry flocks, after detecting cases of flu.
What they’re saying: “If you look at what’s happened the last eight weeks, the number of poultry operations that have gone down — and more recently, the duck operations — is absolutely stunning,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota told Axios.
- The virus is being spread as wild birds comingle with birds in commercial poultry operations.
- Changes in migratory patterns may be worsening the issue in northern states, which now see certain wild birds stay for the winter because water sources aren’t freezing, Osterholm said.
“There is a lot of H5N1 out there. And we’re going to see more cases in humans,” he said.
- But “they’re going to be single, isolated cases,” he said.
The intrigue: A new strain of avian flu called H5N9 was recently identified on a duck farm in California that had an outbreak of the more common H5N1 flu last fall.
- The new type is a sign that two or more viruses could be infecting the same animal and swapping genetic material. Ducks make good hosts for what scientists call “reassortment” because they aren’t badly sickened by many types of avian flu.
- About 119,000 birds on the farm were euthanized following the discovery.
Such mutations, in and of themselves, may not pose a greater threat to human health.
- The H5N9 strain originated in China and is itself a mix of several other strains. It isn’t thought to be more of a threat to humans than the H5N1 strain that’s widely circulating in U.S. poultry, cattle and wild birds.
- But its presence could become a major problem if there was a reassortment between avian flu and a seasonal human flu, Richard Webby, director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza, told the Los Angeles Times.
- That combination could result in a virus that is more easily transmitted between people.
Catch up quick: The bird flu crisis has struck 113 flocks in the past 30 days, affecting more than 19 million birds, per USDA. It’s also been confirmed in 943 dairy herds, the vast majority in California.
- The Trump administration hasn’t publicly outlined steps it’s taken yet to address the spread. HHS didn’t respond to a request for comment.
- HHS Secretary-designate Robert F Kennedy Jr. said he intended to “devote the appropriate resources to preventing pandemics” during confirmation hearings this week, leading some Democratic senators to point to past statements he made about giving infectious disease research “a break.”
Between the lines: The partial blackout on health communications has effectively blocked publication of a pair of studies on bird flu, including one on whether veterinarians who treat cattle have been unknowingly infected by the virus, KFF Health News reported.
- The other report looked at whether people carrying the virus might have infected domestic cats.
- The reports were due to appear in the MMWR, which hasn’t published since January 16 and is subject to the pause ordered by acting HHS Secretary Dorothy Fink to allow the new administration to set up a process for review and prioritization.
The communications freeze has been met with outrage in some medical and science circles. “This idea that science cannot continue until there’s a political lens over it is unprecedented,” Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director at the CDC, told KFF Health News.
- There’s a lot of uncertainty around whether the administration is merely pausing communication or making a wholesale change in how the agency functions, Patrick Jackson, a UVA Health infectious diseases expert, said on a call with reporters Friday.
- “Frankly, getting CDC up and running at full speed is going to be essential to keep track of avian influenza,” he said.
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Deadly H5N1 bird flu becomes an ‘existential threat’ to biodiversity worldwide
WGCU | By Tom Bayles
Published February 2, 2025 at 6:00 AM EST
The progression of the species-jumping disease has been unprecedented, including the first-ever U.S. cases of infections in dairy cattle and heightened pandemic risks.
The bird flu that has been growing more pervasive during the last few years has infected more than 500 species, including 485 avian and at least 70 mammal.
The outbreak is being described as the fastest spreading and largest ever, posing a significant threat to biodiversity worldwide.
The avian invader is pushing the boundaries of what we thought we knew about animal diseases.
The highly transmissible bird flu, also known as H5N1, has been sweeping across the United States leaving a trail of dead chickens and empty egg cartons, and worried public health officials.
The virus has infected over 138 million birds across all 50 states and Puerto Rico, and spread to millions more on five more continents.
What started as a typical bird flu outbreak four years ago has evolved into a cross-species threat that’s ruffling far more than feathers.
As 2025 gets underway, the avian flu is ramping up. Jumping species. Dolphins and polar bears have it. So do smaller mammals such as wild foxes, skunks, and seals, leaving many dead or with neurological symptoms.
The progression of the bird flu in America since 2021 has been unprecedented, including the first-ever cases of infections in dairy cattle and raising heightened pandemic risks.
Chris Walzer is the Wildlife Conservation Society’s director of health and a board-certified veterinarian who has been warning of avian influenza’s devastating and worldwide impact on wildlife for more than a year.
He is also a professor of conservation medicine at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, and said bird flu is highly transmissible, spread through droplet and feces-borne infections, and exacerbated by climate change-altering migration schedules for birds and its circulation, again and again, through domestic poultry.
“The bird flu outbreak is the worst globally and also in U.S. history, with hundreds of million birds dead since it first turned up in domestic waterfowl in China in 1996,” Walzer said in a statement one year ago. “H5N1 now presents an existential threat to the world’s biodiversity.”
‘A nightmare’
For the poultry industry, it’s been a nightmare. Bird flu has wiped out entire flocks of egg-laying hens – and bears, coyotes, cows and raccoons.
On Jan. 17, Georgia confirmed its first H5N1 outbreak at a commercial farm. The spread occurred at a broiler farm housing 45,500 birds in Elbert County, in the northeastern part of the state.
This event is particularly significant because Georgia is the nation’s leading state for chicken production. In response, Georgia officials implemented a ban on poultry exhibits, including sales of live birds at markets and other gatherings featuring live birds.
Rose Acre Farms, the nation’s second-largest egg producer, this week confirmed an avian flu outbreak at its facility in Seymour, Indiana, with 2.8 million birds, sure to further strain the already tight egg supply.
The widespread losses in bird populations are expected to have a substantial impact on egg prices. Predictions indicate that egg prices may reach record highs later this year.
This month, consumers were already encountering vacant shelves and escalating prices for eggs in grocery stores across the nation.
Each time a flock of egg-laying hens has been wiped out, farmers must scramble for new chicks. The result? Empty shelves and sky-high prices at the grocery store.
Your morning omelet might soon require a small loan.
‘Unprecedented’
The virus is showing an alarming ability to jump species. In 2023, it made its arctic debut, claiming a polar bear in Alaska. It’s now been found in at least 48 mammal species, many of which had never been diagnosed with avian influenza before.
The bird flu primarily hitches a ride with migratory birds, especially ducks and geese. These frequent flyers serve as nature’s viral delivery service, spreading H5N1 across vast distances during their seasonal travels
“This is an unprecedented situation,” said Nichola Hill, an infectious disease ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Boston. “We’ve never seen a bird flu virus persist in wild birds for this long or spread this widely.”
The virus poses a threat not only to poultry but also to various animals, including house pets, who like other animals can become infected by consuming contaminated birds or through exposure to infected environments.
The best way to prevent your pets from catching bird flu is to minimize the risk of being infected by it. To do that, health authorities recommend:
• Avoid contact with sick or deceased birds or animals.
• Refrain from consuming raw milk or meat.
• Do not feed pets raw or contaminated food.
• Backyard bird enthusiasts should wear gloves and disinfect bird-feeders.
• Keep pets away from wild animals.
Cats, in particular, are susceptible to H5N1. They can contract the virus by snacking on infected birds or hanging out in contaminated environments. Dogs aren’t off the hook, either, though they seem less likely to catch it than their feline counterparts.
The fatality rate for the current strain of H5N1 in cats hovers around 67%.
Spread to humans
As of this month, 67 human cases of H5N1 have been reported in the United States. One man died.
Despite those numbers the risk to public health remains low, but health officials are closely monitoring the situation due to the virus’s ability to infect mammals, including humans.
Job-related or recreational exposure to infected birds increases the risk of human infection. People at higher risk include farmers, poultry workers, backyard flock owners, animal care workers and public health responders.
The scientific community remains vigilant about the potential for the H5N1 virus to mutate and acquire the ability to spread efficiently between humans, which could potentially lead to a pandemic. Similar outbreaks in Europe and North America underscore recurring risks driven by migratory pathways, with ongoing viral evolution and reassortment leading to over 100 genotypes.
Each new infection gives the virus an opportunity to randomly mutate as it replicates, and if different strains of the virus infect a new host simultaneously, there is a risk of Patient Zero.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies are closely monitoring the situation, tracking factors such as virus transmission patterns, disease severity, case distribution and genetic changes in the virus.
The bird flu outbreak is so devastating it has caused billions of dollars in losses in the U.S. alone from poultry culling and decreases in agricultural productivity, and it has renewed calls for vaccination strategies and improved biosecurity worldwide.
The virus has evolved so many times and jumped dozens of species it has researchers in several peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Emerging Infection Diseases and Emerging Microbes and Infections, warning that the scientific community has to stay abreast of any mutations and share all the information possible to ensure a future version does not set into humans and become the next global pandemic.
The virus is reshaping ecosystems, affecting everything from endangered species to entire food chains.
It’s a stark reminder of the delicate balance of nature and how easily it can be disrupted, as it was during the height of the COVID pandemic.
Nobody wants to see what that might look like.
Exposing the Big Game 