In some New York supermarkets, the purchase of eggs is restricted. There is less availability and, in addition, prices have tripled in the last year. Buying a whole dozen involves paying almost five dollars. Behind this crisis hides “an outbreak of avian flu that has unbalanced supply and demand,” according to the country’s agriculture department (USDA). Between December and January, says the entity, they were notified 23 million cases in farm birds that ended up sacrificed. The Government has announced an investment of one billion dollars that will be used to improve biosafety in poultry farms, help those affected and the development of new vaccines. In addition, despite its tariff policy, Trump is willing to buy eggs from countries such as Turkey to overcome scarcity and again hire part of the staff that has suffered the wave of mass dismissals undertaken for its administration claiming reasons of “public security.”
The egg has become the icon of a crisis whose real danger is that the H5N1 virus is closer and more to humans. In this sense, the Spanish Society of Epidemiology (SEE) has called to “be prepared” given the possibility that avian flu will extend between people. Although, today, there has been little incidence and transmission between humans has not been verified. Since the virus was discovered in 1997, 954 infections have been detected in people from 24 countries And, for the moment, so that there is contagion there must be direct contact with infected animals.
Infected cows and cats
However, in the last year the situation has become somewhat more complex. Only in the US there are 70 cases in people, a deceased and, in addition to farm birds, there are dozens of cases of sick cows by H5N1. A year ago the first case of cow infected with this virus was confirmed and, in summer, the authorities found that the avian flu was already being transmitted from one cows to others. «Since 2024, the virus has infected species that were not affected before »Bernhard URL, executive director of the European Food Security Authority, points out. In fact, as Elisa Pérez-Ramírez, researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Technology of the CSIC: «There has been an immense mortality of birds, up to almost 400 species, especially marinas because they raise in colonies, such as the horses. Then we are seeing these more and more worrying jumps to mammals (there are up to 50 species counted; the sealing or marine lions of America are being specially affected). Sprouts have also been detected in mink farms, as in Galicia in 2022, and has begun to detect in domestic cats. But the jump that worries us most is the one that has given cattle in the US. In just one year, there are 976 farms affected with milk beef in 17 states. Since we know the virus in 1997, we have had important outbreaks, as in 2005-2006, 2016 and 2017. But since 2021 we lived an unknown situation, with a massive extension of the virus between species and throughout the globe, including Antarctica ».
In Europe, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and EFSA have identified 34 key genetic mutations that make the virus more prone to jump from animals to humans, and also to replicate, allowing the transmission of human to human. Regarding the affectation in the continent, according to data from these organizations, Between September and December 2024, 657 highly pathogenic influenza virus were detected in domestic and wild birds in 27 countries. There has also been affectation in other animals around the farm, such as cats or dogs in Italy and Poland (in the US the sale of a raw chicken brand for cats has been prohibited from the risk of transmission). In Spain, the Ministry of Agriculture declared on January 20 the high risk of avian flu and approved a series of preventive measures, such as the prohibition of the breeding of poultry outdoors. In cases in the outdoor maintenance, birds must be protected by fabrics that prevent the entry of wild or access to the same feeders and drinking fountains.
Loss of biodiversity
What has happened in the last 3-4 years is serious not only because of economic losses-which exceed 300 million sacrificed or dead birds for the virus-but also because of the impact on biodiversity. Only as a reference, The English island of Alderney has lost 30% of its population of Alcatraces.
Jorge F. Orueta, technician of the Seo BirdLife conservation area, details that «the avian flu is having more incidence in those places where farm birds live with wild or are close to them. The situation is aggravated even closer to wetlands, because in the water viruses survive better. In addition, it used to be migratory birds that expanded the flu, causing epidemics that extended west from Asia and to Africa, but now the flu is considered endemic. This has caused brutal mortalities, ”says the technician, who recalls that the most affected birds are marine:« Apart from suffering the disease, they give us a lot of information. It is curious the case of the hosteraces, who seem to be changing the color of their iris from blue to black once they overcome the disease, ”says Orueta.
One Health
Although we may seem alien to what happens in nature, the veterinarians always remember the concept of One Health, an approach that relates human health to that of ecosystems and fauna. And it is that influenza viruses are among the most likely to cause a new pandemic. «They have a very high mutation rate, which causes situations such as the same species to become infected with various types of flu viruses and exchange segments, from which a new more dangerous virus may arise. This characteristic of flu viruses is what has given them that pandemic potential in the past. The 2009 swine influenza virus was an H1N1 and emerged as a triple mixture between aviar, human and pig flu. We know that pigs have a lot The loss of habitat, deforestation, the global movement of people and products or the increase in temperaturesthat “shoots the populations of mosquitoes and ticks, transmission vectors of epidemics such as the Zika or the western Nile virus, so present last year in Andalusia,” he says.
From SEO BirdLife, Orueta adds: «Every time we break a barrier with nature, we get more at risk. Aviar production farms, which are particularly in Asia, are the ideal place for viruses to prosper. Greater farm are invading natural areas, creating an interaction that favors the proliferation of always more powerful viruses. All this, added to the abuse that has historically been made of antibiotics that then generate resistances, to overcrowding and varieties aimed at producing a large amount of meat in a few weeks, it generates an ideal crop broth for viruses, ”he concludes.
Vaccines and safety
Like Trump has announced more money for vaccine research, the EU announced in June 2024 the purchase of 665,000 doses of prepaid aviar flu vaccine and assumed a purchase option of 40 million doses in the next four years, according to Euronews. «We have experience with flu viruses and it is likely to extend farm vaccination programs. Although vaccines are a bit like those of the COVID. It is not sterilizing; The risk of disease and death of birds decreases a lot, but it does not prevent any viruses from circulating, ”says Elisa Pérez.