Lexie Shadix, Campus Carrier deputy news editor

Recently, the media has been abuzz with news covering the spread of avian influenza, more commonly known as “bird flu.” There have been outbreaks among poultry, causing the price of eggs to rise as well as among dairy cows and even a few cases in humans. Avian influenza is a viral infection that primarily affects birds. It is caused by influenza A viruses. There are subtypes of this flu, and the one that is currently making headlines is H5N1.  

While the main avian influenza is H5N1, there are also others, such as H9N2. Oftentimes, H5N1 travels in between flocks of poultry via wild birds. 

“These [viruses] are often brought in by waterfowl, ducks and geese, things like that that carry the virus to these farms where there’s food sources,” Christopher Hall, associate professor of biology, said. “There are usually ponds, there’s grains and things that they can eat. Often, they’ll leave it at the farms.” 

The flu presents in birds similarly to how it is presented in humans. 

“[The chickens] will start to sneeze and cough, it’s a respiratory virus in them as well,” Hall said. “[The chicken may] get a guttural flutter where it’s hard for him to breathe because the lungs start to fill with fluid frequently.” 

It spreads by contact with those infected, and when a farm becomes infected with bird flu, farmers usually must cull their flocks. 

“Because of the way the virus moves, it is difficult for a farm to have influenza without them culling,” Sunday Peters, associate professor of animal science and department chair, said. “If it is detected in one farm, its usually spread rapidly, even if [the animals] are not exhibiting symptoms. [Farmers] don’t even want to have [potential] carriers, so usually they are depopulated.” 

There is not much genetic diversity among poultry, allowing the bird flu to spread so quickly. 

“If it will infect one and kill one, the whole flock’s probably going to get wiped out because there’s not much genetic variability,” Hall said. 

Once the flu is detected in a flock, there are various steps farmers must take. 

“They usually will shut down operation in that place, and the next thing is to depopulate,” Peters said. “[Then] they take [the infected animals] to the incinerator and just incinerate [them] so that you can destroy the virus. If [the infected animal] is buried, there’s a possibility that someone, or something, will have contact with them.” 

Once the flock is culled, the farmer will bring in the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to ensure their farm has been disinfected properly. Then, the farm will need to be without birds for a period. This may be three months or a permanent closure.

“[It may be] three months or six months, depending on how severe the situation is, before farmers are allowed to [restart operations],” Peters said. “Sometimes people just change location if it’s becoming endemic in that place.  It’s going to be as small as three months, but it can also be [so bad] that you can’t use the facility again, depending on how severe the  incident is.”

H5N1 is not something new in the US, but it has started infecting cattle, which may have contributed to the media attention it has been receiving. This is the first time H5N1 has been found in cows in the US. 

“We’re seeing [H5N1] in dairy herds, a lot of it in Washington State and California,” Hall said. “It’s when it makes those what we call ‘zoonotic’ leaps from one species to the next, that’s when we start to pay a little more attention. Because now it’s starting to leap to new species and we’re particularly worried about it getting into livestock because of the economic consequences. And then, of course, if it makes the leap into humans, now we’re really holding our breath watching for a major outbreak.” 

However, while it has been devastating to poultry, Americans should not be too worried about getting it themselves, at least right now. It cannot be contracted by drinking pasteurized milk and properly cooked chicken and eggs, and there are no cases of it being transmitted from human to human. 

“I don’t think there is a reason to panic,” Peters said. “Our food is safe and the people that work at the agencies [that handle viruses such as these] are doing their best, they’re doing their work. There are so many websites out there that are always putting out up-to-date information.” 

One website that people can check is cdc.gov, which has a large database of information regarding the bird flu, any risks posed to animals and humans and recent developments. 

The majority of the very few cases of H5N1 in humans have been in people who work closely with poultry or cattle. Furthermore, more work is being done to improve vaccines to slow the spread of the influenza. 

“Vaccines have been developed, but efficacy is what is the problem,” Peters said. “People can still get flu even though they got a flu vaccine. I think there’s still a lot more work that needs to be done with the effectiveness of the vaccine. Another problem is that it’s always evolving, so you have to be ahead of the virus by trying to develop vaccines that will be a lot more protective and a lot more robust in the ability to be able to prevent the virus from being as devastating as it is right now.” 

A candidate vaccine virus (CVV) is an influenza virus that has been prepared by the CDC to make flu vaccines. According to the CDC, they routinely develop CVVs for novel avian influenzas viruses with pandemic potential to ensure they are prepared for a pandemic level outbreak. 

The H and the N in H5N1 help scientists identify what kind of avian influenza it is. 

“[The] H is short for hemagglutinin [which is] basically a component of the virus that helps the virus attatch to a host cell,” professor of biology David Conn said. “The N, on the other hand, stands for neuraminidase. The neuraminidase is what is formed inside the cell once it’s been affected, and it is what allows the new viral particles that are propagated inside the cell to get out.” 

The hemagglutinin allows the virus to get into the cell, and the neurominidase allows it to get out and spread. 

Another attempt to lessen the effects of bird flu might include increasing genetic diversity among birds that are susceptible. 

“There’s a lot of arguments [for creating] biodiversity in our livestock,” Hall said. “So if we do get a major outbreak or something like that, it would affect [less birds]. But it’s kind of hard, when you’re getting paid by the egg, to go with a [genetically diverse] bird that maybe doesn’t produce as many eggs, and often we’ll just take our chances.” 

However, while this is a possibility, it is not something that could be done right now. It will take time, funds and more research to develop a vaccine that is more effective in halting bird flu. But another way farmers could try to stop the spread is by changing their farming practices.     

“I think the future is looking more at how we actually do our farming, rather than just developing new drugs and treatments,” Conn said “The most important thing for controlling

human diseases in this country is the porcelain toilet. By having a nice, clean toilet that you can go to the bathroom in and then you can flush it down and it’s immediately sanitized, that’s controlled far more disease than all our drugs and vaccines combined will ever do. The same thing would be true with the farm animals. Maybe coming up with better ways of raising them, housing them and so forth.” 

Ultimately, it is something important to stay on top of, as it is much easier to halt it before it becomes widespread. 

“So far what they are doing mostly is early detection,” Peters said. 

Scientists are trying to detect the virus in wild birds, since that is mostly where it lives and spreads from. By doing this, they can then work to prevent infected birds from encountering domesticated birds and spreading the flu. 

While this will, and has, affected the prices of food items at the store, it is not something that average Americans should let keep them up at night. And for the Berry community, there have never been any cases of bird flu in Berry’s farming operations. Groups such as the CDC, Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are working to monitor the disease’s spread.