Quote:Tests from birds at a major egg producer in the south have returned positive for avian influenza, prompting plans to kill nearly two million hens and pullets. A producer in Michigan also said some of its birds tested positive for the illness.
Cal-Maine Foods said April 2 that it was depopulating 1.6 million laying hens and 33,7000 pullets, which totals about 3.6 percent of its flocks, after some of the birds at a facility in Parmer County, Texas tested positive for H1N5, a strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Under federal rules aimed at stemming the spread of disease, infected flocks must be killed.
The number of impacted birds is the largest since Dec. 7, 2023, when an Ohio farm was forced to kill 2.6 million egg layers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The other non-backyard cull this month involved just 31,200 birds in South Dakota.
Cal-Maine Foods had to kill about 1.6 percent of its flock in 2023 after the avian influenza was detected at a Kansas facility, and numerous other companies across the country culled millions of chickens in 2022 and 2023.
Cal-Maine Foods is halting production at the facility in order to comply with protocols from the department. The firm said it is working to secure eggs and meat from other facilities “to minimize disruption to its customers.”

Quote:A dairy worker in Texas has tested positive for avian influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Monday.1

The announcement comes just a week after the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) first announced avian flu outbreaks in certain dairy cow herds in Texas.2
It’s uncommon for humans to catch the H5N1 subtype avian influenza—also known as H5N1 bird flu—and the CDC said this case is only the second one reported in the U.S. The first case was in Colorado in 2022.1
The H5N1 bird flu is often found in wild bird populations, and sick birds can sometimes pass the virus to livestock or other mammals.1
In this most recent case, the person in Texas likely became infected after coming in close contact with sick cattle, health officials said.
The case is relatively mild; the CDC said the patient has eye redness (conjunctivitis) but has no other symptoms. The person is being treated with an antiviral for flu, and is isolating.1
“This infection does not change the H5N1 bird flu human health risk assessment for the U.S. general public, which CDC considers to be low,” the agency said in a press release. It acknowledged, however, that people who come into more frequent contact with possibly infected birds or other animals have a higher risk.1
Since 2022, bird flu has been detected in wild, commercial, and hobbyist bird flocks—in total, over 82 million birds have been affected across 48 states and 512 counties.3
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Influenza (flu): H5N1 bird flu detections across the United States (backyard and commercial).
 These outbreaks can cause issues for farmers—on Tuesday, Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., the country’s largest egg producer and distributor, culled nearly 2 million hens after an outbreak of avian flu at one of its facilities.4

The USDA also found herds of dairy cows testing positive for bird flu in Kansas, Texas, Michigan, and New Mexico. It’s assuming a herd in Idaho will test positive, too.2
“That worries me, because humans interact pretty closely with dairy cattle,” said Jill Foster, MD, professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “You’ve got these dairy cows now that are infected, and people in the barn [are] pretty close with the dairy cows…I think that there’s probably going to be more spread to humans.”
Here’s what to know about bird flu, how it spreads between animals and humans, and what this infection means for public health.

(04-04-2024, 04:27 AM)Infolurker Wrote: If you haven't noticed, we have infected cows in multiple states now and goats a few weeks ago as well as transmission to people.

I bet the mail in ballots are being printed as we speak.


https://www.health.com/cdc-bird-flu-human-case-8623939#:~:text=The%20Centers%20for%20Disease%20Control,redness%20and%20is%20currently%20recovering.

Quote:A dairy worker in Texas has tested positive for avian influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Monday.1

The announcement comes just a week after the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) first announced avian flu outbreaks in certain dairy cow herds in Texas.2
It’s uncommon for humans to catch the H5N1 subtype avian influenza—also known as H5N1 bird flu—and the CDC said this case is only the second one reported in the U.S. The first case was in Colorado in 2022.1
The H5N1 bird flu is often found in wild bird populations, and sick birds can sometimes pass the virus to livestock or other mammals.1
In this most recent case, the person in Texas likely became infected after coming in close contact with sick cattle, health officials said.
The case is relatively mild; the CDC said the patient has eye redness (conjunctivitis) but has no other symptoms. The person is being treated with an antiviral for flu, and is isolating.1
“This infection does not change the H5N1 bird flu human health risk assessment for the U.S. general public, which CDC considers to be low,” the agency said in a press release. It acknowledged, however, that people who come into more frequent contact with possibly infected birds or other animals have a higher risk.1
Since 2022, bird flu has been detected in wild, commercial, and hobbyist bird flocks—in total, over 82 million birds have been affected across 48 states and 512 counties.3
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Influenza (flu): H5N1 bird flu detections across the United States (backyard and commercial).
 These outbreaks can cause issues for farmers—on Tuesday, Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., the country’s largest egg producer and distributor, culled nearly 2 million hens after an outbreak of avian flu at one of its facilities.4

The USDA also found herds of dairy cows testing positive for bird flu in Kansas, Texas, Michigan, and New Mexico. It’s assuming a herd in Idaho will test positive, too.2
“That worries me, because humans interact pretty closely with dairy cattle,” said Jill Foster, MD, professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “You’ve got these dairy cows now that are infected, and people in the barn [are] pretty close with the dairy cows…I think that there’s probably going to be more spread to humans.”
Here’s what to know about bird flu, how it spreads between animals and humans, and what this infection means for public health.