Avian Flu, by Zoey P.

Avian Flu (also known as bird flu) is sweeping through many different species across the nation, causing widespread panic specifically in the agriculture industry, skyrocketing chicken meat, turkey meat, and egg prices, and a sharp decline in the quality of these poultry products.

Avian flu is a strain of influenza virus (specifically strain H5N1)first detected in Hong Kong during the late 1990s, causing widespread infections and deaths among poultry. Though the Avian Flu took quite a long time to become a problem in the United States, this strain has actually been here since 2004, having its first major U.S. outbreak around 2015. During the first outbreak, the government killed and removed millions of infected birds (also known as culling) specifically in the Midwest to prevent the Avian Flu from becoming as popular as it is now. 

This new outbreak has been lurking since 2022, when Avian Flu became a larger concern for poultry farmers, though it only recently started to catch wind and started to become a bigger problem. So far the United States has culled over 160 million infected birds nationwide, leading to a huge shortage of eggs and a huge price increase of any type of produce coming from birds. 

Currently, there is no evidence of human-to-human spread, but animal-to-human spread is still a real concern for people living in close quarters with infected livestock. There is also evidence that a new strand potentially could develop and enable human-to-human spread. Even though this strand hasn’t developed yet, we should still take many precautions such as washing hands before eating, refraining from touching our mouth or eyes, and not sharing food. Though the risk of a pandemic is very low, we should always be alert and aware of diseases or viruses popular in the world right now.