Bird flu is back in the US
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The virus often flares up in the autumn as wild birds begin migrating south.
PHOTO: CASEY STEFFENS/NYTIMES
Emily Anthes and Apoorva Mandavilli
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NEW YORK – Bird flu is back. After a quiet summer, the virus has hit dozens of poultry flocks, resulting in the deaths of nearly seven million farmed birds in the United States since the beginning of September.
Among them: about 1.3 million turkeys, putting pressure on the nation’s turkey supply in the run-up to Thanksgiving.
Reports of infected wild birds have also surged this autumn, and three states – Idaho, Nebraska and Texas – have identified outbreaks in dairy cows.
The virus often flares up in the autumn as wild birds begin migrating south. In 2025, the uptick is occurring during a government shutdown, as federal agencies that are typically involved in the response are working with skeletal staff.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which tracks human cases, and the Department of Agriculture, which monitors animal outbreaks, have both suspended routine communication with states, leaving many officials without up-to-date guidance on how to detect and contain the disease, or a clear national picture of the surge.
The Agriculture Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ms Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Health Department, said the CDC was maintaining its emergency operations centre and its ability to detect and respond to urgent public health threats.
But immigration raids are scaring away workers at dairy and poultry farms who might otherwise seek help for their symptoms. And the fall flu season may further complicate efforts to distinguish cases of bird flu, some experts said.
The new wave of detections makes clear that the past several months, during which the virus all but vanished from the nation’s poultry farms and egg prices fell from record highs, were a temporary respite. This autumn’s surge began earlier than usual, and experts are bracing themselves for an acceleration in the months ahead.
The virus has “settled into this seasonal pattern”, said Dr Richard Webby, an influenza expert at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “This is going to continue to be the new norm.”
The resurgence of the virus also means that as the holidays approach, Americans could see higher prices for both eggs and turkeys.
Mr Bernt Nelson, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said that wholesale turkey prices are already 40 per cent higher than in 2024. NYTIMES
