A Texas skunk has bird flu. What does that mean for humans and the price of eggs?
.jpg "Avian flu has been showing up in a growing list of mammals throughout the country. The first case of bird flu in a Texas mammal was identified recently in Carson County, near Amarillo.")
The first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza, more commonly known as bird flu, has been detected in a mammal in Texas this week, a sign of the growing outbreak of a virus that’s been spreading from poultry to wild birds and now to mammals.
A laboratory confirmed that a striped skunk in Carson County, near Amarillo, had H5N1, according to a press release from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. H5N1 is the parental strain of bird flu fueling the outbreak among birds and mammals in North America, and was first identified in 1996, said Wendy Puryear, a virologist with the veterinary school at Tufts University. This is the first time the virus has been detected in a mammal in Texas.
H5N1 is a highly contagious virus that had been spreading mostly in Europe and in the Arctic, before it made its way to North America last year, Puryear said. Since then, it’s been spreading “like wildfire.”
“The thing that has been really unusual, and the reason that this one is getting so much extra attention, is that this form has had a much greater diversity of species that it’s impacting,” Puryear said.
Before last year, bird flu “really didn’t cause a problem in wildlife” in the U.S., said Puryear, who has been studying influenza in wildlife for a decade.
The virus initially spread from poultry to wild birds, like raptors and gulls, and then quickly began showing up in foxes. Since then, it’s been affecting a growing list of mammals, like the skunk in Carson County.
Although the current outbreak isn’t infecting many humans, there are still reasons to monitor this outbreak closely, Puryear said. Bird flu can infect humans, and the method of transmission is not well understood. (Scientists do know, however, that humans don’t typically get infected after eating an infected bird.) Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Puryear said, virologists were most worried that the next epidemic or pandemic would be caused by bird flu, because it is capable of infecting humans and, when it does, it has a high mortality rate.
Just 10 humans are believed to have been infected in the current outbreak, according to a technical report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and just one of those infections was in the U.S.
The spread of the virus has also contributed to the rising cost of eggs in the U.S. The virus caused multiple outbreaks among egg-laying hens in the U.S., reducing the supply of eggs as inflation was driving up the cost of all foods. At least 43 million egg-laying hens were lost to bird flu itself or depopulation in 2022, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (There has been no safety risk identified with eating eggs, Puryear added.) In Texas, there have been at least four outbreaks among backyard poultry and two outbreaks in commercial flocks, according to the USDA.
The average Texan doesn’t need to worry about becoming infected with bird flu, but people should continue to be very cautious around wildlife of any kind. And Texans who work with poultry, including backyard poultry, should also be vigilant.
“When people are out walking their dogs, if they come across a dead bird, be extra diligent that your animal isn’t interacting with it,” Puryear said as an example.
Other mammals who have been diagnosed with bird flu in other states include foxes, raccoons, bobcats, opossums, mountain lions and black bears, according to the parks and wildlife department. The department urged anyone who sees animals that might have H5N1 to immediately contact their local TPWD wildlife biologist.
Bird flu can cause neurological effects on mammals, Puryear said, so an infected animal might be acting strangely. Mammals that can’t walk, or are walking in circles or are drooping their heads could be infected with bird flu, she said.
Although the risk to the general public remains low, Puryear said the outbreak will likely continue among poultry, wild birds, and other wild mammals for some time, and that the outbreak indicates the risk of current agricultural practices. Almost all forms of highly pathogenic avian influenza emerge from dense poultry, and then spread back to wildlife.
“We really need to step back and take a good hard look at how we’re doing our agriculture, and how we are bringing together very large, dense numbers of animals for our food source,” Puryear said. “That makes it much easier for these viral pathogens to take hold.”
This story was originally published March 23, 2023 at 2:01 PM.
