Avian flu has wiped out 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the country’s deadliest outbreak in history, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data showed on Thursday.
The deaths of chickens, turkeys and other birds represent the worst US animal health disaster to date, topping the previous record of 50.5m birds that died in an avian-flu outbreak in 2015.
Birds often die after becoming infected. Entire flocks, which can top a million birds at egg-laying chicken farms, are also culled to control the spread of the disease after a bird tests positive.
Losses of poultry flocks sent prices for eggs and turkey meat to record highs, worsening economic pain for consumers facing red-hot inflation and making Thursday’s Thanksgiving celebrations more expensive in the United States. Europe and Britain are also suffering their worst avian-flu crises, and some British supermarkets rationed customers’ egg purchases after the outbreak disrupted supplies.
The US outbreak, which began in February, infected flocks of poultry and non-poultry birds across 46 states, USDA data showed. Wild birds like ducks transmit the virus, known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), through their faeces, feathers or direct contact with poultry.—Reuters
