The bird flu is back

[Hawkeye10]

An epidemic of bird flu across the East Coast and Midwest has forced poultry farmers to kill nearly 13 million birds since February.

Poultry and egg prices have already been impacted and could soar higher in the coming months.

After circulating for months in Asia and Europe, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been detected in commercial and backyard farms in at least 17 states, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Individual farmers have been forced to cull hundreds of thousands -- sometimes millions -- of birds to check the spread of the disease.

No humans have tested positive in the US yet, but the economic toll could be major: The first US epidemic, in 2015, cost the poultry industry more than $1.5 billion and caused egg prices to nearly double.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/bird-flu-causing-poultry-prices-to-soar/

This is going to be a thing.

 

[Hawkeye10]

With the addition of the new Iowa cases, the US poultry industry has had to kill more than 15.6 million chickens and 1.3 million turkeys since January 1.

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/3/29/iowa-to-kill-1-5-million-hens-turkeys-because-of-bid-flu

Also frozen stores of chicken are already at historic lows. We should remember stories around Thanksgiving of Turkey shortages...I wonder how expensive they will be this year.

 

[Hawkeye10]

51 million food birds died in the 2015 version, this one is already at almost 25 million. The 2015 outbreak lasted 6 months, the first flock detected this time was Feb 8.

https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2022...ic-avian-influenza-doubled-during-past-month/

https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/outlooks/86282/ldpm-282-02.pdf?v=539

 

[Hawkeye10]

Over two million egg layers in Iowa destroyed in two weeks due to bird flu. Iowa is where most of the eggs for commercial operations, and restaurant liquid eggs, are produced.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...nty-iowa-commercial-egg-facility/69627954007/

 

[Lionfish]

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/bird-flu-causing-poultry-prices-to-soar/

This is going to be a thing.

We need an "internet flu".

 

[Hawkeye10]

The current outbreak has now matched the 2015 outbreak at over 50 million commercial birds lost, even though operators have invested heavily into mitigation programs.