United States: For over three years, the world is facing global outbreak of bird flu. The virus is on the increasing spread in the US, and affecting food production and animals.
Infection rate involves more than 80 million chickens, thousands of wild birds and dozens of mammals including the polar bear.
But now it has emerged among the dairy cows and, according to some reports, infected 94 herds across the 12 states in the country since March this year. The most recent animal that got a positive result is an alpaca on Idaho’s farm.
Gigantic scale of the disease’s presence
Julianna Lenoch, national coordinator for the Department of Agriculture’s wildlife disease program, said, “It’s gigantic, the scope and scale of the presence of the disease,” as USA Today stated.
Such a scale and related thoughts are manifested in the cost of eggs and onions, new messages on properly preparing ground meat products and eggs, and other measures, which dairy and poultry producers are being called upon to undertake in order to contain the disease.
With the outbreak continuing and spreading, people’s worries about the impact on human existence, as well as the influence of higher temperatures and increased instances of severe weather events, are increasing, making this and future pandemics even more critical.
The presence of the virus across the globe
The H5N1 virus is one of the most infectious types of the flu, and it has been identified on six continents, starting with Europe and Asia in 2020.
Official reports of the species exist from both North and Central America and most of South America; more generally, the species’ range encompasses every continent except Australia.
It also turned up in Antarctica last fall, raising alarm about potential consequences for some of the world’s most beloved birds: penguins.
Previous outbreaks in the US
The US has been through previous avian influenza epidemics; this one is different because it is not only lingering but also spreading worldwide.
Domestic poultry flocks comprised of farming practices of production lines of poultry or chick rearers or backyard flocks and poultry farming have been infected in all states of America except Louisiana and Hawaii, including over 5.9 million are said to have been killed in the last two months, that is since May 1.
Ever since 2022, cases of infections have been realized in 14 million turkeys, 80 million chickens, 71 million of which are egg laying chickens.
Farmers are forced to slaughter chickens and turkeys whenever a poultry flock is affected and kill them to prevent human infections; experts have said the practice has caused skyrocketing cost of eggs.
Positive cases exist in 31 states, but California leads with foxes, mice, striped skunks, mountain lions, felids, and harbor seals.
According to Lenoch, who oversees the federal program responsible for tracking the virus in wild birds, “The longer we have virus out there, the more possibility there is for changes,” as USA Today reported.
Are humans at risk?
Federal officials said Thursday that the risk is still very low in the country, but Yes. They have been sending alarms to tell the public to be on alert but not alarmed.
Four cases were recorded in the US, and all the patients were infected by the virus on the farm. The mRNA vaccine became available in the winter of 2021-2022.
In the first case, in 2022, the worker was involved in the mass poultry farm wiping out the contagion-filled animals.
Of the three patients involved this year, one of them had contact with dairy cows. Two only said they had conjunctivitis, informally referred to as pink eye, while the third also complained of having upper respiratory issues.
People in the United States domestic territory have not died due to the virus, according to federal officials. However, deaths have been recorded in other countries.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that it has little idea whether it is possible to transmit the virus through raw milk; however, it has urged states that allow sales of raw milk to ban it for some reason.
According to Xavier Becerra, U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, during a speech to the Western Governors Association last week, “The fact that it’s in 20% of our milk supply should be disturbing to everyone because that means it’s gone around already,” and, “If it starts to jump, that’s when we really have to worry.”