A JOLT OF HEALTH

Bird flu and you

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When an issue becomes personal, we tend to pay attention.

As one who loves to eat eggs, I have a lot of company as per capita egg consumption in the U.S. has increased by 5% in the last 20 years. Eggs are a dietary staple, highly nutritious, and usually inexpensive source of protein.

When my weekly dozen recently ran out, I was shocked to find the price of replacing it at Grocery Outlet (my fav for price and shopping adventure) was greater than $5.50. Frugality winning out, I traipsed to WinCo Foods where I bought eggs for $5.84 per dozen.

In the case of bird flu and the price of eggs, the importance is more than personal and highly complex.

The facts and how they connect

Bird flu is caused by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus (HPAI). This bad actor is causing a big hubbub for many reasons.  

First, it has killed more than 110 million birds (domestic and wild) since 2022.  Though a natural virus that infects wild waterfowl (mallards, gulls, terns, ducks, geese, swans and more), this current outbreak is the largest in U.S. history.

This virus spreads and kills birds quickly. Infected wild birds are the source for infecting agricultural birds, most impactfully chickens raised for egg and meat production. Backyard flocks have been affected too.

Every state has touched, especially the key egg-producing states: ours, Oregon and Utah. The West Coast is a place where waterfowl migrate in the fall. California has lost 25% of its egg-laying chickens this year alone.

Second, the disease has spread to mammals, most notably dairy cow herds. 

Infected cattle, unlike birds, become mildly ill. Most do not die. However, they produce less milk and the milk is of a different consistency. Bird flu virus has been found in the milk of infected cows and there is concern for mammals (humans or pets) who drink raw milk without pasteurization, to become infected.  Dairy cow workers are among the human cases of bird flu.  

The virus is also infecting our pets, particularly cats, who eat birds. Close to us in Mason County, the bird flu infected and killed 20 big cats in an outbreak at a nonprofit animal sanctuary. Twenty big cats died from bird flu at Washington wildlife sanctuary A Bengal tiger, three lynx, four bobcats, and four cougars died. To date, no dogs have been found to be infected in the U.S.

Third, egg prices are soaring in part due to the virus impacting our already inflated grocery prices. More on that below.

Fourth, there have been 66 cases of human bird flu and one death in the country with 11 cases reported in Washington.  So far, no one has been infected in Thurston Country.   Susceptibility to infection by bird flu requires close and prolonged contact with infected animals. All cases have occurred in agricultural workers.  

No human-to-human transmission has been found and thus the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) considers the human risk low.

Fifth, could this virus mutate and be the cause of another pandemic? Yes.

Bird flu is a mutable RNA virus. Scientists are studying and preparing for this possibility. A person infected with the human influenza virus could co-mingle with a bird influenza-infected cow or other mammal and "re-organize' (that is, mutate) to form a previously unknown virus to which we would have no immunity. This is exactly what happened with SarsCov2, which caused the COVID-19 pandemic. SarsCov2 is a mutated (and continually mutating) bat virus.

This possibility is why getting your influenza vaccine is important because we comingle with birds, livestock and the natural world.

Egg prices are soaring

Bird flu is considered the No. 1 cause of the current egg shortage with a price increase of 64%.

But the story is not straightforward.

Despite bird flu, U.S. egg production in 2024 decreased only 4% compared with 2023 producing 8.92 billion eggs last year.  

The cost of farming is increasing due to inflation’s effect on feed, fuel and labor prices. Inflation was 4.1% in 2023 and 2.6% in 2024.

Demand for eggs has gone up 5% overall in the last two decades. The highest demand is during the baking season of November and December, which has now passed as we are busy with resolutions to lose those extra pounds.

In California and Massachusetts, government regulations encouraging cage-free production have increased bird flu losses in those states. What sounds good might not be.

The numbers do not add up. Something is missing in the equation to explain the prices we are paying for eggs.

Vulnerable food supply system

What is clear is that as part of a complex biological system, our food supply is vulnerable to both nature and industrial farming.

Conceivably, with systemic thinking and system-based solutions, our food supply can build resilience to forces that can interfere with food availability. This is not a simple topic and one our columnist, Jill Severn, addressed last week.

What's for dinner tonight?

From your medical columnist’s perspective, the egg supply issue has overtones reminiscent of the personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages of masks, gowns and gloves early in the pandemic,  the IV fluid shortage we are still recovering from, and the ongoing shortage of primary care physicians and nurses.

How two local health care providers are weathering the national shortage of IV fluids

Without systemic safeguards and future planning, we are vulnerable. Plus, we are more vulnerable to forces we cannot foresee or control (nature and a big earthquake for instance) without being prepared. The Boy Scouts got this one right.

Additionally, our food supply is dependent on farmworkers, a vast majority of whom are persons of color and Hispanic. As a new government cycle begins, let’s hope leaders consider this in proposed laws and policies.

Taking care of yourself and your pets

  • Don’t handle dead birds. The virus is transmitted through their saliva and droppings contacting our eyes, nose and mouth, or are inhaled in air droplets or dust.  Your pets are equally at risk.
  • If you find a dead bird, help the effort to prevent spread of bird flu by reporting it to the Washington State Department of Agriculture online WDFW Wildlife Health or by calling 800-606-3056.
  • Infected cows can transmit the virus through their meat or milk. Because the virus is killed by heat, cooking meat and pasteurizing milk is critical for you and your pets’ safety.
  • Our county’s public health website has a comprehensive page on this topic with links to the CDC.   Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) | Thurston County.
  • Get your influenza vaccine.
  •  Consider adapting your eating habits as prices and availability fluctuate by eating fewer eggs and/or using egg substitutes. Google that one for some delightful surprises.  

In the meantime, I look forward to cooking those omelets, albeit less often than I might like these days.

Debra L. Glasser, M.D. is a retired internal medicine physician in Olympia. Got a question for her? Write drdebra@theJOLTnews.com 

Editor's note: This article was edited to be more accurate regarding cow infections caused by Avian Influenza. 1/15/2025

Comments

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  • Snevets

    Good information. Thank you for sharing.

    Wednesday, January 15 Report this

  • Brookewickham

    Again, another helpful, easy to understand, and practical article from Doctor Debra!

    Thank you!

    Friday, January 24 Report this