Farmers say bird flu a ‘crisis’ as egg prices soar

For Brian Crahhar, Clarence, a fourth generation farmer in the small town of New York, the latest outbreak of bird flu means many nights.

He considers his 18 -acre field to be one of the lucky people. With extensive safety precautions, they have not lost any bird for the virus, which has destroyed chicken farms across the US.

But outbreak forced him to make a hard call, such as deciding if a virus in Pennsylvania has to accept a new batch of baby chicks from a hatchery near Hotspot. If he does not, he has no chickens to change those who die or get sick.

“I had no choice,” Krehar told the BBC. “It either accepted those children, or next year, we slowly get out of farming.”

“Egg farmers are in the fight for our life and we are losing,” he said.

Although the avian flu, or H5N1, has disseminated among the American poultry flocks over the years, a outbreak that begins in 2022 has caused havoc on the fields, with more than 156 million birds killed and the prices of eggs skyrocketed. The virus then began to establish a leg between dairy cows last year, and this month, a separate stress – was found in cattle bound by severe infection in humans.

The deteriorating outbreak comes as the new administration of President Donald Trump has widely cut the funding of government employees and research that public health experts say that the country’s ability to respond to bird flu and other potential epidemic Is.

This week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) told the BBC that it fired several officers, who were working on a bird flu response, before they could try to work back on them. The administration also promised billions in funding cuts to the National Institute of Health, which scientists say that research could be an obstacle that helps them understand the development of the virus.

“Right now, the risk for most Americans is low, but the virus continues to surprise us, and so it can change, and can change quickly,” a global health safety companion Michela Simono at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Said. ,

“I worry, because all these funding cuts are in political interactions, that we do not cut the programs that have been shown most necessary.”

Trump officials said that they are working on a new scheme to respond to bird flu, one of which includes more security precautions and vaccines, while going away from Kalinga – a process where farmers all their own After killing the birds, one gets infected to prevent the spread of a herd. Infectious and deadly disease.

Asked for details about the new strategy, the White House did not provide the specifics to the BBC, but said that the administration of Biden “crushed American agriculture with regulator uncertainty”, inflation and “radical environmental policies” .

Scientists have seen many warning signs in recent months that the avian flu is favorable to infect humans, said Andrew Pacose, a molecular biology professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Influenza viruses do not usually grow well in mammals, so dairy cows have more information about the length of the operation of the virus as it allows to develop more opportunities, Mr. Pacose said.

Bird flu infected cattle for the first time in the US earlier last year. Since then, there are about 1,000 confirmed cases in 17 states. There have also been 68 confirmed cases among humans, most of which have worked together with animals.

Then, in February, a new version of the virus – called D1.1 – was first found in Dairy cows and an infected worker in Nevada. The tension died of two serious infections in humans in North America, a teenager at a hospital in British Columbia and a virus in a patient in Louisiana.

The new version also means that there are now at least two examples in which cows have caught the virus from wild birds, not other dairy herds.

“We are looking at these small red flags, the real indications that the virus is making some inroads,” said Mr. Pacose.

The virus has provoked poultry and dairy farms, where workers have to kill millions of birds to prevent more infections. This is a fight that American consumers have felt at a grocery store and a recurring topic during the Presidential campaign – in January, the average cost of eggs in the US increased by more than 15% from a year ago, which $ 4.95 a dozen a dozen. Done

Mr. Krehar said that despite the host of security measures, outbreaks continue across the country, including using lease to the fields, wearing steel-foot shoes and using wild birds.

Bird flu “has been in our mind since we sleep, if we sleep, we sleep”, he said. “We need new strategies to fight this virus.”

California poultry farmer Christian Alexandre has seen the financial and emotional devastation of a bird flu outbreak for the first time. In 2022, he had to kill all his 45,000 chickens when the virus spread to his family farm near the Oregon border.

“It was extremely painful,” said Mr. Alexandre, President of the American Pasted Poultry Producers Association.

In response to the increase in egg prices, Trump officials now said that they want to move away from slaughter, focusing on preventive measures.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Haset told BBC American partner CBS News last week that he is working on a plan with newly married USDA leader Brook Rollins, which to compete the virus “with” bio -safety and medicine ” .

“Rollins and I are working with all the best people of the government, in which a plan is ready for the President next week, including academics, including academics across the country and around the world,” said HSET.

Mr. Alexandre said that he was not sure that vaccination and other precautions could change the need to reduce herds – but he said that there was a dire need of new ideas.

He said, “What farmers and USDA are doing, they have not worked clearly.” “We are in a crisis.”

Vaccines for birds against avian flu are already present in countries around the world, and last week, the USDA gave conditional approval to a new shot developed by Zoetis.

Nevertheless, many poultry industry groups protest against vaccination of birds against viruses. This is because most countries do not accept poultry exports that are vaccinated due to the apprehension that it faces the presence of the virus, Tom Super of the National Chicken Council said.

Public health experts have described the US government’s reaction to bird flu as important as the virus was first spread to dairy cows, arguing that Biden officials had reduced their disease monitoring efforts.

But Trump’s team has slowed down communication about the disease, which also worries about public health experts. The Disease Control and Prevention Center (CDC) has allegedly stopped the weekly report on bird flu and canceled briefing weeks with MPs and State Health Officers.

“I have not seen anything from this administration that will say that they are taking this outbreak any more seriously,” Mr. Pacose said.

Ms. Simoneu sees an encouraging signal from the Simonu Trump administration: Grald Parker, a bird flu expert, veterinarian and former top-ranking health officer, were selected to lead the White House’s epidemic office.

At the same time, he said, the extensive deduction of going back from the World Health Organization under Trump’s leadership may obstruct the efforts to respond to H5N1.

“We are cutting ourselves from the global information system at a time when we really need all the signs that we can find,” he said.

Ms. Simoneu said that the lack of trust in public health authorities after fatigue and Kovid epidemic creates for a difficult environment to respond to a possible health crisis for any administration. However, he said, the danger is that Trump officials should take seriously.

“We don’t know if it may be an emergency for humans next week, or if it could be several months from now, or if it could not be at all,” said Ms. Simono. “But taking your eyes with the ball is not really an option.”