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Nearly 50million birds have been culled in US as one of the worst bird flu outbreaks ever seen continues – and experts fear it could be transmitted to humans.
Official figures from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that 47million fowl have either died from the virus or been culled to prevent transmission this year.
The outbreak has been ongoing since the start of the year, when reports of the flu were found among flocks in Europe. It has been found in 42 states.
The H5N1 strain survived through the summer and is still being found in coupes around the world.
Officials fear the threat may persist until summer 2023.
It has led to shortages of turkey and chickens around the world, exacerbating the inflation crisis facing many Americans.
Some experts also fear that it could eventually mutate enough to make human transmission possible – causing a potentially deadly outbreak.
A total of 47million birds have been culled or died from the bird flu in the US this year, making it one of the worst outbreaks the country has ever faced. Around 50million have also been culled in Europe amid the outbreak
In 2015, a record 50.5million birds either died from the virus or were culled amid an outbreak – the largest figure ever.
It is feared that this year’s outbreak could reach similar levels if not controlled.
‘This virus could be present in wild birds for the foreseeable future,’ Rosemary Sifford of the USDA said.
‘This one is certainly different.’
The same subtype, known as the goose/Guangdong lineage, is spreading in Europe.
The continent is already suffering its worst avian flu crisis, with nearly 50 million poultry culled.
Officials are finding the subtype in a broader range of wild birds, such as ducks, than in the past and it seems to live in the birds longer, Sifford said.
An elevated threat for infections may persist until summer 2023 as they migrate, she continued.
The US is monitoring wild birds for avian flu in four migration paths known as flyways, up from two previously, and plans to do the same next year.
The outbreak has infected flocks in 42 states since February, twice as many as in 2015, USDA records show.
Infections slowed over the summer this year but did not stop as they did in 2015.
The tenacity of the virus surprised some producers, who have boosted cleaning and security in barns since the 2015 outbreak.
‘Unfortunately what we’ve done probably hasn’t been enough to protect us from this high load of virus in the wild bird population,’ Sifford said.
This has led to record turkey prices ahead of next month’s Thanksgiving holiday, during a time when many families are already struggling because of inflation.
Retail prices for fresh boneless, skinless turkey breast reached a record $6.70 per pound last month, up 112 per cent from a year earlier and 14 per cent above the previous record from 2015, the American Farm Bureau said.
Some also fear that this strain of the bird flu will eventually be the source of the next bird flu as well.
Professor Paul Hunter, an infectious disease expert at East Anglia University, said in August that it is not a question ‘if’ bird flu will cause another human outbreak, but ‘when’.
‘Whether that happens in my lifetime or my grandchild’s, I wouldn’t like to guess,’ he told MailOnline.
‘These things are very random events and you can never really predict when they’re going to happen, but the more of it around, the higher the risk.’
In May, an inmate working at a work-release farm in Colorado’s Montrose County tested positive for the virus.