Virulent strain of avian flu leads to death for millions of birds

Now we have a pandemic of the unvaccinated … birds

A particularly nasty strain of avian flu has decimated both wild bird flocks and commercial poultry, leading to millions of deaths by infection or by depopulation, as above, when one infected bird is discovered on premises. Vaccines are being tested, though there’s evidence the “crisis” is subsiding.

You can’t spell pandemic without p-a-n-i-c.

A lethal strain of bird flu has swept across the United States the past two years, leading to the deaths of tens of millions of birds, and the virus is back this spring, or, more accurately, it is still with us, meaning it survived the bitter winter months.

While the disease, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), poses a threat to humans only on rare occasions, it has decimated the nation’s poultry and backyard bird flocks, causing a spike in egg prices, and it is killing wild birds in historic numbers. It’s impossible to know just how many birds have been killed, but, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 59 million birds in commercial poultry and backyard flocks have died—either from infection or by culling all birds on those premises where at least one confirmed infected bird was found.

At the other end of the spectrum, as of May 7, there had been 6,737 HPAI detections in wild birds in the U.S., indicating the number of confirmed positive wild bird samples through the National Wildlife Disease Program. However, scientists say the 6,737 known wild bird fatalities represent an exponential undercount because most birds become sick and die in the wild and are never seen by people.

In the latest numbers, Minnesota leads the way with 566 confirmed wild bird fatalities in birds carrying the H5N1 strain; Wisconsin recorded 214; Michigan, 213; Iowa, 205. No one knows why the Minnesota number is so high—it could represent a more infected population, driven by Minnesota’s prominence as a wild bird thruway of sorts, or it simply could mean more birds were submitted for testing, experts have said.

One thing is for certain, though. The avian flu outbreak is one of the worst wildlife epidemics in recorded history. In Wisconsin last year, 29 domestic flocks in 18 counties were confirmed with HPAI, while the nationwide fatalities related to HPAI represented the largest animal disease outbreak ever, surpassing the 2014-15 bird flu outbreak.

And so, of course, the government is producing—what else—a bird vaccine. That’s what you do when doomsday is upon us.

But wait a minute. In the last few weeks, some in the government say a corner has been turned, especially in the commercial sector. And there are signs that maybe all this is serious but overblown.

Not that any of that will get in the way of the vaccine narrative. Let’s take a look.

Seriously, you’re better off euthanized …