ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A bird flu outbreak has caused egg prices to soar across the country, bringing prices up by 50% nationwide. It's leading residents to take matters into their own hands, raising chickens in their backyard.

What You Need To Know

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers

  • While the current public health risk is low, the CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures

  • CDC is using its flu surveillance systems to monitor for H5 bird flu activity in people

Despite the benefit of saving a few dollars in their wallet, the avian flu could still pose a possible threat.

“We're really talking about influenza virus, and it's called H5N1 because that's just the subtype of this particular virus,” New York Department of Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. “That really is a big problem for birds.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the current public health risk is low, wwith at least 69 confirmed human cases of bird flu in 12 states, with one death associated with the H5N1 infection.

“Every time the virus moves to a new host, every time it moves, particularly to a new species, it is adapting,” University of Rochester microbiology and immunology professor David Topham said. “It's changing. It's being selected by Mother Nature to be more fit. It's gathering the ability to transmit, within those animals. And so it becomes more widespread.”

Avian influenza cases have been found across various animals, including poultry, wild birds, dairy cows, and even pet cats, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture stating that nearly 23 million birds were affected by the virus in January alone.

“Used to be just, aquatic birds,” Topham said. “But the virus has spread. It's now in lots of wild bird populations, and it's crossed over into our domestic poultry, not only here, but really across the world.”

Finding higher risks among those who work closely with the animals.

“If you're a farmer or someone who works with livestock and you're around livestock, like just say, for example, you're someone who milks a cow, if you're going around that cow milking experience, you should be wearing an N95 mask and eye goggles,” McDonald said. “If you're someone who's part of the depopulating bird experience, then you have a whole outfit of personal protective equipment. These are sensible precautions when working with livestock.”

As of now, there haven’t been any human cases of bird flu in New York or human-to-human transmission anywhere in the United States. 

In the meantime, medical experts continue to research the virus and keep a close eye on the spread.

“When there's something rare that we want to keep track of, we have to go find it,” McDonald said. “And this is where public health professionals become like Sherlock Holmes. We're trying to find the problem. And the way you find a problem is you go look for it. So that's why the national milk testing strategy makes sense. That's why doing blood work and veterinary work makes sense over time. And that's how we protect the general public.”

Officials say New Yorkers who observe a sick or dead wild bird should report the sighting online to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and take proper precautions when it comes to handling animals.