An outbreak of avian flu continues to spread across the country, affecting the price of eggs and poultry. Earlier this month, the Richmond Zoo announced that a crane at the facility was confirmed to have died from H5 bird flu.
“This is the first positive test of bird flu in the zoo’s 30-year history,” reads a statement from January 20, 2025. “The affected birds did not live in any of our aviaries where the public share a common space with birds.”
Dr. Patrick Jackson, an infectious disease expert at the University of Virginia Health System, said the H5N1 is widely distributed across the nation.
“The involvement with birds at the Richmond Zoo is obviously unfortunate, but I think it’s a predictable consequence of when animals have contact with wild bird populations,” said Dr. Jackson.
There are several strains of avian influenza out there and Dr. Jackson said it is not unusual for new variants to develop. The hope is to stop more cases from developing in humans as well as cows and other livestock.
The Richmond Zoo has been working with the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to continue to monitor the situation.
On January 21, the acting secretary of the United States Health and Human Services Department sent out a memo ordering a halt to all communications until they can be reviewed by the incoming administration. All documents must be reviewed by a presidential appointee and that includes studies that were to have been published this week in the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The website shows the last report being published on January 16.
“This really is one of the major routes of communication from CDC about things like foodborne outbreaks of chikungunya or dengue in the United States and would also be a route of communication about the current status of avian influenza,” Dr. Jackson said. “CDC also does publish some more formal academic journals in a traditional way. And a lot of that has been on pause.”
Dr. Jackson said the lack of communications is causing uncertainty at a time when federal, state, and local health officials need to work together to understand how the outbreak is happening.
“What we really need to have happening right now is CDC working closely with state and local health departments and agricultural departments to do good monitoring about what’s going on in wild bird populations, in cattle, collecting information about human cases as well, and then disseminating that information to the broader community,” Dr. Jackson said.
The Virginia Department of Health webpage on bird flu currently states that there are no known human cases in the Commonwealth. On January 16, health officials confirmed an outbreak at a poultry farm in Accomack County.
Dr. Jackson said the people greatest at risk are those who work in agriculture and that those with backyard chickens should be vigilant.
“Use appropriate protective equipment and handling those,” Dr. Jackson said. “And hunters also should take appropriate precautions when handling or dressing birds that they’ve caught.”
Dr. Jackson said the most immediate threat is to the food supply. The price of eggs has been skyrocketing because any commercial flock with a known infection must be culled. That takes eggs out of commercial sales because flocks have to be repopulated.
He added there are cases of bird flu in cattle and that some cats have been exposed due to drinking of raw milk from infected cows. But so far Dr. Jackson doesn’t see a threat to human health.
“So far we have not seen sustained human to human transmission of H5N1 influenza,” said Dr. Jackson. “And that really would be the bright red flag that would make you concerned about the beginning of a pandemic. I spend more time worrying about the 5th Street Wawa opening as an immediate threat to my safety and well being than I do about Avian influenza.”
However, he said that could change quickly which is why more data needs to be collected and shared.
Before you go: This article was originally sent out as part of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter in the January 31, 2025 edition. Both are functions of Town Crier Productions. You can support the work by purchasing a paid subscription or contributing monthly through Patreon. You can also send in a check or send an email, but drop me a line first.
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