State warns of avian flu surge amid migration

ing more virus, they’re shedding more virus in the environment, and we’re likely gonna see more spillover of that virus into our domestic poultry operations on both the commercial and the backyard side,” Baldwin said.

country. According to federal data, a dozen eggs cost an average of $4.83 as of January 2023, up from the average of $1.93 recorded a year prior.

BY PAOLO ZIALCITA COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO

Highly pathogenic avian in uenza, the disease spreading among wild and domestic bird populations nationwide, is expected to have a surge in cases as the migratory season begins in Colorado.

It’s been nearly a year since the rst outbreak in Colorado, and while cases have slowed, Colorado state veterinarian Maggie Baldwin said the risk will go up as more ocks of birds pass through.

“[ ese wild birds] are bring- e avian u has recently been linked to deaths in mammals that consumed infected birds. e nationwide outbreak has driven up egg prices across the

So far, about 6.4 million chickens have either been killed by the virus or put down to prevent outbreaks within a ock. Hundreds of wild birds, mostly geese and ducks, have also been killed by the virus. Death is all but guaranteed for birds that contract it, and symptoms include sudden fatigue, decreased egg production, and nasal discharge.

“What we can likely expect is across the nation, we’re going to see another increase in cases this spring, and that’s really what led to consumer impacts was when we had a lot of our commercial egg laying populations impacted around the same time,” Baldwin said.

With the length of the outbreak hitting “unprecedented” levels, Baldwin acknowledges that fatigue may be setting in for commercial and domestic owners. However, she urges owners to keep up their biosecurity measures. When big,