If this virus sticks around in wild bird populations - which some scientists think is likely - poultry farmers may need to just learn to live with this problem. Instead, there are more isolated cases popping up, perhaps because wild birds are bringing the viruses to farms and backyard flocks. Heard says there currently seems to be less spread of the virus from farm to farm than was seen during the last major outbreak. "Wild migratory waterfowl are always flying over the top and when they poop, that poop gets on the ground," she says, explaining that the virus can then get tracked into bird houses on boots or inadvertently moved from farm to farm on vehicles. Since the last outbreak, the industry has worked to educate farmers about how to protect their flocks. The virus has a number of ways to get from wild birds into poultry, says Heard. "So I think I am kind of holding my breath this month," says Denise Heard, director of research programs for the U.S. Back then, the greatest number of cases occurred in the month of April. The bird flu that struck in 20 resulted in the deaths of more than 50 million birds and cost the industry billions of dollars. "So when you start thinking about losing 20% of a specific population of wild birds, that's a pretty substantial impact." Poultry farmers cull their flocksĬhickens and turkeys raised by the poultry industry have suffered the most deaths, and farmers are bracing themselves for even more. In Israel, when this virus hit an area where about 40,000 common cranes had gathered for the winter, "they lost a reported 8,000 of these birds over the course of a couple weeks," says Richards. It remains to be seen how much of a toll this virus will take on American bird species. "In addition, there's a host of other species, including black vultures and bald eagles and some of the other scavenging species, that were likely infected by consuming the carcasses of those waterfowl," says Richards. In the Great Plains states, wildlife experts have seen mass die-offs in snow geese. In New Hampshire, about 50 Canada geese died in a single event. In Florida, for example, more than 1,000 lesser scaup ducks have succumbed to the virus. Waterfowl, and raptors that eat their dead bodies, are bearing the brunt of it. "Just a lot more birds appear to be affected." "This outbreak in the wild bird population is a lot more extensive than we saw in 20," says David Stallknecht, an avian influenza researcher with the University of Georgia. In contrast, this latest bird flu virus is being detected in sick and dying birds all over. The last time a dangerous bird flu entered the country, Richards says, "the number of instances where we picked that particular virus up in wild birds was very, very limited." after a wigeon duck in South Carolina tested positive. In January, government officials announced its arrival in the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center. "The very first moment it got to North America, it was a heads up to us," says Bryan Richards, the emerging diseases coordinator at the U.S. Tests showed this deadly bird flu virus had made it across the Atlantic. Then, in December of 2021, chickens and other fowl got sick and started dying on a farm on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. And they have worried about the possible threat these viruses might pose to American birds. Wildlife experts have long known that highly pathogenic bird flus like this one were circulating in Europe and Asia. This strain of bird flu virus has turned up in everything from crows to pelicans to bald eagles.Īnimals An outbreak of bird flu is pushing poultry prices higher Raptors could be especially hard hit Since then, more than 40 wild bird species in more than 30 states have tested positive. Scientists believe that wild migratory birds brought this virus to North America a few months ago. While chickens and turkeys with the virus quickly sicken and die, some waterfowl can remain healthy with the virus and carry it long distances. That's because this particular flu virus seems capable of hanging around in populations of wild birds, which can pass the virus on to poultry farms. But unlike a similar bird flu outbreak seven years ago, this one is unlikely to just burn itself out. Some 24 million poultry birds like chicken and turkeys have already been lost, either because they died from the virus or were killed to prevent its spread. Waterfowl and the raptors that dine on them, like this bald eagle and snow goose, have both been killed by the new bird flu virus.Ī newly arrived bird flu is sweeping through wild bird populations in the United States, and that may mean trouble for poultry farmers who have been doing their best to control this flu outbreak in their flocks.
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