Cage-free chickens are on display at the facility at Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs in Lakeside, Calif., on April 19. Avian flu has killed 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the worst outbreak in the country’s history. (Mike Blake, Reuters)
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CHICAGO – Avian flu has killed 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the worst outbreak in the country’s history, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture on Thursday.
The deaths of chickens, turkeys and other birds represent the worst U.S. animal health threat, surpassing the 50.5 million birds that died in the 2015 avian-flu outbreak.
Birds often die after being infected. In egg-laying poultry farms, entire flocks of up to a million birds are culled after a single bird tests positive to control the spread of the disease.
The loss of chicken flocks has sent egg and turkey prices soaring, adding to the economic pain of red-hot inflation for consumers and making Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday expensive in the United States. Europe and Britain are also suffering from severe avian-flu crises, and some British supermarkets have given customers egg purchases after the outbreak cut off supplies.
The US outbreak, which began in February, has infected poultry and non-poultry birds in 46 states, according to USDA data. Wild birds such as ducks transmit the virus known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) through feces, feathers, or direct contact with poultry.
“Wild birds continue to spread HPAI across the country during migration, so preventing contact between domestic flocks and wild birds is critical to protecting America’s poultry,” said Rosemary Seaford, USDA’s chief of veterinary medicine.
After increasing safety and sanitation measures following the 2015 outbreak, farmers have struggled to keep the disease and wild birds out of their barns. In the year In 2015, 30% of cases were directly from wild birds, compared to 85% this year, the USDA told Reuters.
Government officials are working on new recommendations to prevent the infection in turkey farms, especially in Turkey. Turkey farms account for more than 70% of commercial poultry affected by the outbreak, according to the USDA.
Although the outbreak poses little threat to the public, people should avoid birds that appear sick or dead unless they are protected, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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