Bird Flu Sweeping Through Poultry in Eastern U.S.

It is likely the virus is being spread by wild birds returning from winter feeding grounds, according to experts, and many fear the worst will come when spring migration peaks in a few weeks, The Times reported. Poultry growers are being urged by federal officials to report sick or dying birds and to take preventive measures such as preventing contact between their farmed flocks and wild birds.

“It’s important to note that avian influenza is not considered to be a risk to public health and it’s not a food-safety risk,” Mike Stepien, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, told The Times. The virus — called Eurasian H5N1 — has not jumped to humans but is being closely watched by scientists because it is closely related to an Asian strain that has infected hundreds of people since 2003. That strain does not spread efficiently among humans, but when it does, it has a death rate of 60 percent, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And it can decimate a country’s poultry industry. Right now, turkey farmers in Indiana and Kentucky are the most worried. Several farms in those states have been shuttered in the past two weeks after officials discovered the virus among birds that spend their entire lives crammed into massive containment sheds. Farmers say they have been stunned by how efficiently the virus kills, with animals dying hours after the initial infection, The Times reported.