Bird Flu

Exercise caution when visiting Lake Morton and when interacting with backyard chickens and other pets.

The progression of the species-jumping disease has been unprecedented, including the first-ever U.S. cases of infections in dairy cattle and heightened pandemic risks.

In an abundance of caution, the CDC last week advised hospitals and labs to do faster flu testing to help identify possible bird flu cases hiding in the flock of rising flu diagnoses.

The spread of an avian flu virus in cattle has again brought public health attention to the potential for a global pandemic. Fighting it would depend, for now, on 1940s technology that makes vaccines from hens’ eggs.

The patient, an inmate in a pre-release program, was involved in culling poultry presumptively infected with H5N1 bird flu at a farm. The virus, while deadly for birds, poses a low risk to humans.

Millions of chickens and turkeys have been killed to control an avian flu outbreak, but the virus is also infecting wild birds. (Story first aired on Weekend Saturday on April 9, 2022.)

At least three bald eagles who contracted bird flu are dead.

Scientists are tracking a deadly bird flu outbreak that has infected wild birds in more than 30 states. Purging the nation's poultry supply may not be enough to keep the virus from sticking around.

Penguins may be the only birds visitors to many zoos can see right now, because they already are kept inside and usually protected behind glass, making it harder for the bird flu to reach them.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with professor Kathleen Liang at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University about how bird flu is driving up the price of poultry.

Nearly 23 million birds have died as a highly pathogenic bird flu virus tears its way through farms and chicken yards. It has spread to at least 24 states in less than two months.

Bird flu has been confirmed in poultry in 17 states since the start of the year. Whether the outbreak will affect the price of eggs and poultry depends on how widespread it becomes, an expert says.