Is human bird flu finally with us?

Keeping hens cooped up in order to provide ‘cheap’ eggs was always likely to backfire on us, like so many other intensive farming practices.

Human Bird Flu?

A case of bird flu in Missouri has researchers concerned because the infected person had no known contact with potential animal carriers of the disease. The United States is experiencing an ongoing outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in dairy cattle. Data from this new case could reveal whether it’s reached a dreaded turning point: the emergence of a virus capable of spreading from human to human. But patchy data are leaving scientists frustrated — Missouri has no requirement for farmers to test cows for H5N1 and the country has failed to get a handle on exactly how the virus is spreading.

Source: Nature Briefing, 20th September 2024

This is worrying and a potential serious threat largely of our own making. There are many environmental and economic issues here but the one I want to focus on is something that has concerned me for many decades: how big business and the profit motive have duped so many people into demanding ‘cheap’ food – in this case eggs – without any thought for animal welfare, farmers pay, environmental damage or long-term consequences. Interestingly, in the recent UK election a large proportion of the population claimed to be concerned about river and lake pollution and the cost of cleaning it up, with industrial agricultural runoff being one of the more serious contributors, but that is a subject for another day.

Demand for cheap eggs (and cheap chicken for that matter) has led to large numbers of birds being cooped up in close proximity to each other for long periods of time – and sometimes permanently. Is it any wonder that disease spreads so quickly within the flock – but also that it spreads to and from the wild bird population. The H5N1 virus has posed a threat for some time now as it spreads from bird to bird and to cattle – and humans. But if there is a new human-to-human version that is very scary indeed.

Another scary issue is deregulation, which big business and the ‘establishment’ have tricked so many people into thinking is ‘good’ on the grounds that it will reduce costs to the consumer, but which in reality reduces their costs enabling them to make more profit and any benefit we get – if at all – is mere chicken-feed. Missouri has no regulation requiring farmers to test cattle for H5N1, which does not mean to say that some of them don’t do it, but seriously, what is wrong with you?

I avoid cheap eggs and buy organic free range. And before all the whiners out there whinge on about ‘I can’t afford quality eggs’ – neither can I! I am on a very low fixed income, which means I cannot afford to buy as many quality eggs as cheap ones, so I just make do with fewer. I also do not want chickens to suffer needlessly and I want farmers to be paid properly for their efforts. And I do not want to contract a very nasty disease. The trouble is, so long as people carry on buying cheap eggs, I am at risk. If I contract the virus in a future epidemic it is likely to be because of them. And what can I do about it? Nothing.

There is, of course, the risk that the virus could cause an epidemic in the human population by many other means, and not just via chickens. As stated earlier this is a big and complex subject with too many unknowns, and chicken and egg production is just one aspect of it.

Find out for yourself

Reliable sources of information

1. British Government advice Biosecurity and hygiene standards to keep birds safe from bird flu (avian influenza):

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/bird-flu-avian-influenza-how-to-prevent-it-and-stop-it-spreading

2. Nature – (6 minute read) – Mysterious US bird flu case in person without any known contact with an infected animal raises spectre of human-to-human transmission:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03089-8?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=2feb547ee3-nature-briefing-weekly-20240920&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-2feb547ee3-50987660

3. World Health Organisation – for up-to-date concise and detailed information on the virus:

https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/influenza-h5n1