February 19, 2025
3 min read
The Latest on Bird Flu in Humans, Chickens, and More
Bird flu headlines include three new human cases, millions of dead birds in poultry flocks and new personnel moves from the Trump administration
Edwin Remsberg/Getty Images
We’re regularly rounding up the latest news on avian influenza. Here’s what happened recently.
Human Cases
Within the past 10 days, three different states in the U.S. have reported new known and likely bird flu infections in humans: The first two are a confirmed case in a dairy worker in Nevada and a probable one in a farm worker in Ohio who had handled dead poultry. The third is a confirmed infection in an older woman from Wyoming who has been hospitalized in Colorado. The Wyoming Department of Health department has reported this person has underlying medical conditions and likely caught the virus from backyard chickens. The new reports from Nevada and Ohio bring the tally of human infections in the U.S. since 2024 to 68 confirmed cases and eight probable ones. The new case from Wyoming is not reflected in these statistics, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson confirmed.
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While infections continue, so does scientific research aimed at understanding the virus and its spread. A study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on February 13 analyzed blood samples of 150 dairy veterinarians to determine exposure. The researchers looked for antibodies to influenza viruses within a large group scientists call H5, which includes the H5N1 avian influenza virus that is currently dominating cases in wildlife, poultry and dairy cattle. Three of the veterinarians had these antibodies. Of these three individuals, two had no known exposure to bird flu, and one has been working in a state without known dairy infections. Experts say the findings mean that existing systems for tracking avian influenza aren’t up to the task.
Poultry Updates
December 2024 and January 2025 were brutal months for bird flu infections in poultry, and February’s rates still look grim. So far this month more than nine million domesticated birds have been infected by the virus or culled in attempt to stop its spread. Last December saw more than 18 million dead birds in such flocks, and the number this past January was more than 23 million. Ohio has been particularly hard-hit, with 51 commercial flocks affected in the past 30 days.
The poultry infections are hitting egg-laying facilities particularly hard, and the loss of birds is causing egg prices to continue to rise. Last week the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis reported that urban egg prices in January reached an average of $4.95 a dozen, the highest since at least 1980. (Experts say that the risk of getting bird flu from commercial eggs is very low, if not nonexistent; you should nonetheless fully cook your eggs.)
Agency Moves
Two of President Donald Trump’s cabinet secretary nominees who will be important in tackling bird flu outbreaks in people and humans were confirmed last week: the Senate approved Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and Brooke Rollins to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Public health experts have expressed concerns about how Kennedy may shape the response to bird flu should the situation in humans worsen. He has publicly promoted drinking raw milk, which can carry live virus, even though pasteurization has been proven to inactivate it. And he has suggested that candidate vaccines to protect against bird flu may not be safe or effective because of the natural limitations of data for any vaccine that has not yet faced down its target virus in the general population.
Rollins has drawn much less public scrutiny than Kennedy. And while she has acknowledged that bird flu is a pressing concern, it’s even less clear how she might respond to the crisis. She has said that she’ll help the administration address the high price of eggs, however.
In the meantime, Trump’s recent government-wide firing of workers is also hitting relevant federal response teams, including the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, a two-year epidemiology training program in which participants monitor potential outbreaks worldwide, and the HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which stockpiles personal protective equipment, antiviral drugs and vaccine components, including for avian influenza. In addition, multiple USDA employees tasked with work related to bird flu were accidentally fired over the weekend, NBC News reported, and the agency said it was trying to rescind their termination letters.
The degree to which these personnel cuts may affect bird flu response remains unclear, but experts have expressed alarm. During his first term, Trump disbanded a global health group that might have put U.S. response to COVID on stronger footing. During his campaign for the last presidential election, he also said he would disband a pandemic preparedness office created by then president Joe Biden.
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