February 2025
Feb 28
nj.com - N.J. cat euthanized after bird flu infection. Pet owners warned.
Patch - 1st Cat In NJ Confirmed With Bird Flu In Hunterdon County
UMN.EDU - New Jersey reports H5 avian flu cluster in cats
Feb 27
Politico - Trump administration struggles to rehire fired bird flu employees - USDA supervisors are being asked to justify rehires and some employees still haven’t gotten their laptops back.
NY Times - Agriculture Department Looks to Import Eggs as Prices Soar - The United States is in talks with several countries in an effort to immediately secure new supplies.
Feb 26
Bloomberg News - Trump Team Weighs Pulling Funds for Moderna Bird Flu Vaccine - Government moves to review funding for mRNA vaccines. Biden administration had awarded contract in its final days.
CBS News - U.S. officials walk back plans to stop culling poultry for bird flu
Feb 25
CNN Health - Could bird flu vaccines help tackle high egg prices? Experts say it’s not so simple
Feb 24
NY Magazine - Bird Flu Wiped Out His Entire Farm - Doug Corwin was forced to cull 100,000 ducks after the virus came to his century-old Long Island farm. Crescent is hardly the first farm to be hit by bird flu recently. Over the past three years, 162.6 million domestic and commercial birds have been infected. As of February 19, the USDA has confirmed outbreaks in 157 flocks, affecting more than 23 million birds so far this year. Wild birds are dying in unknown numbers; egg prices are soaring. (When a strain of the virus jumped from birds to cows recently, an evolutionary biologist told the New York Times, “This is not what anyone wanted to see.”) It’s not the first time Corwin has seen an outbreak — during his career, he has witnessed three, each of which, he says, was seasonal and contained by the USDA’s policy of flock depopulation. But to him, this time feels different: “I’ve never seen anything as contagious and as virulent as this, nothing that even compares.”
Feb 22
The Guardian - Alarm as bird flu now ‘endemic in cows’ while Trump cuts staff and funding
Feb 21
CBS News Minnesota - Minnesota to test raw milk for bird flu virus
BBC - Farmers say bird flu a 'crisis' as egg prices soar
Fox Business - Border Patrol sees uptick in egg smuggling on southern border amid skyrocketing prices
MSN - A dead goose that tested positive for bird flu is Burlington County’s first case
Feb 20
NY Times - Bird Flu in Cows Is a Slow-Motion Disaster
NY Times - Dairy Workers May Have Passed Bird Flu to Pet Cats, C.D.C. Study Suggests
CBS News - Bird flu confirmed in rats for first time, USDA reports
Bloomberg News - Bird Flu Kills Dairy Workers’ Cats, Suggesting A Viral Change: Movement Between Species Indicates New Mutations In h5N1
CBS 8 - Rats infected with the bird flu discovered in Riverside County
CBS Minnesota - Minnesota bird flu, wolf tracking programs clouded in uncertainty amid Trump’s federal funding freeze
CBS Minnesota - Minnesota has confirmed there are three separate viruses infecting birds and cattle.
Feb 18
NBC News - USDA says it accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is now trying to rehire them
AP News - As egg prices soar, Trump administration plans new strategy to fight bird flu
Feb 17
The Travel - Minnesota Declares State Of Emergency Amid A Trifecta of Viral Outbreaks
NY Post - Wyoming woman hospitalized with bird flu after virus kills her chickens
Feb 15
Science - U.S. Conditionally Approves Vaccine To Protect Poultry From Avian Flu
Feb 14
CIDRAP - Avian flu hits more commercial and backyard poultry in 9 states
NY Magazine - How Freaked Out Should We Be About Bird Flu?
Feb 13
AP - US eggs prices hit a record high of $4.95 and are likely to keep climbing
PBS News - CDC finds evidence that bird flu spread silently to veterinarians, suggesting undercount of cases
NPR - After delay, CDC releases data signaling bird flu spread undetected in cows and people
CBS News - What to know about bird flu in 2025, from how it's spread to symptoms and egg impacts
Feb 12
NYC.GOV - Mayor Adams Announces City Health Department Precautions After Birds Test Positive for Bird flu
The Columbus Dispatch - Ohio Department of Health reports first human case of bird flu in the state
Feb 10
Crain’s New York Business - New York braces for bird flu risk
News 12 NJ - New Jersey live poultry markets ordered to undergo cleaning amid uptick in bird flu cases.
CNN - Costco and Trader Joe’s are limiting how many eggs people can buy
News Medical - House cats with bird flu could pose a risk to public health
Feb 9
NJ.com -Avian flu suspected in deaths of 30 wild birds found on N.J. river banks
NY Post - Activists accuse NYC shops of selling ‘sickly’ chickens in scramble before bird-flu shutdown
Feb 7
New York State - Governor Hochul Announces Additional Measures to Prevent Spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Poultry - New York State Issues Notice and Order Requiring Cleaning, Disinfection, and Temporary Closure of all Live Bird Markets in New York City, Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau Counties. Proactive Effort Will Facilitate a Break in HPAI Virus Transmission Within the Markets and Further Protect Animal and Public Health. Follows Detection of Avian Flu at Seven Live Bird Markets in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. Builds on Governor Hochul’s Continued Direction to State Agencies To Take Proactive Prevention Measures as Risk to Humans Remains Low
Crain's New York Business - Live bird markets in the city, suburbs shuttered after avian flu detected
NY Times - C.D.C. Posts, Then Deletes, Data on Bird Flu Spread Between Cats and People - The data, which appeared fleetingly online on Wednesday February 5, 2025, confirmed transmission in two households. Scientists called on the agency to release the full report.
Lohud.com - Bird flu confirmed in Rockland; H5N1 suspected in other dead geese found in Spring Valley - If you find more than one dead bird in one place, report it using the NYSDEC Avian Influenza Reporting form, which can be found at dec.ny.gov. The Canada goose tested for H5N1 was found in Lake Lucille. Other dead geese found in Spring Valley's Memorial Park weren't tested but bird flu is considered likely.
China CDC Weekly - Outbreak Reports: Infection Tracing and Virus Genomic Analysis of Two Cases of Human Infection with Avian Influenza A(H5N6) — Fujian Province, China, April–May 2024 - "Genetic analyses revealed that while the virus maintains its avian host tropism, it has acquired mutations that may enhance human receptor binding affinity, viral replication capacity, pathogenicity, and neuraminidase inhibitor resistance."
Gothamist - Bird flu suspected in deaths across multiple species at Queens and Bronx zoo - The avian flu has recently killed as many as 15 birds at the Queens and Bronx zoos, officials confirmed to Gothamist on Friday, revealing new details about the extent of the outbreak that prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to shutter live poultry markets around the city. The rash of infections has also killed a red tailed hawk in the Bronx and a great horned owl in Queens, according to records from the Department of Environmental Protection.
Los Angeles Times - A cat in San Mateo was diagnosed with bird flu on the same day the CDC deleted evidence that cats may transmit the virus to humans - Scientists found that a pet cat in San Mateo County died of complications related to H5N1 bird flu. The virus was also discovered in a backyard poultry flock in Redwood City. Meanwhile, the CDC published data showing that the disease can be transmitted from cats to humans — but those data were removed within minutes of their initial publication.
NY Magazine - All the Latest Unnerving Bird-Flu Developments
Feb 6
NY Times - 20 Big Cats Die From Bird Flu at a Washington Sanctuary
Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy - Nine states report more avian flu in poultry, including more layer farms
Feb 5
NY Times - Cows Have Been Infected With a Second Form of Bird Flu - A new version of the virus is widespread in wild birds but had not previously been detected in cows.
CIDRAP - USDA confirms spillover of 2nd H5N1 avian flu genotype into dairy cattle - he US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced a new spillover of H5N1 avian flu to dairy cattle, which involves the D1.1 genotype currently circulating in wild birds and has been implicated in human infections, including the fatal case in a Louisiana resident who had contact with sick backyard birds.
Until now, all dairy herd H5N1 detections have involved the B3.13 genotype, thought to be the result of a single spillover from wild birds in late 2023 or early 2024. The genotype has been linked to mild infections in dairy workers, along with some poultry cullers, with conjunctivitis the main symptom.
"Genotype D1.1 represents the predominant genotype in the North American flyways this past fall and winter and has been identified in wild birds, mammals, and spillovers into domestic poultry," APHIS said in its statement.
Reuters - Second bird flu strain found in US dairy cattle, USDA says - Second bird flu strain detected in dairy cattle for first time. Detection came through national milk testing program. Containment is critical, veterinary expert says
Feb 3
NY Times - Could the Bird Flu Become Airborne? - Scientists were slow to recognize that Covid spreads through the air. Some are now trying to get ahead of the bird flu.
NY State Department of Health - HEALTH ADVISORY: Accelerated Subtyping of Influenza A in Hospitalized Patients - CDC & NY State is now recommending the IMMEDIATE testing & subtyping of all hospitalized flu A cases & unknown/suspected flu cases—in order to identify human bird flu. Bell Bird Control infers that the CDC is concerned if avian flu has now crossed into wide community transmission.
