SALT LAKE CITY — For months now, we’ve seen the price of chicken and eggs go up, and part of the reason is a nationwide Avian Flu outbreak over the past year. Here in Utah, experts said this was the worst the virus has ever been, with other animals falling sick too.
“This outbreak has been substantial. We haven’t seen anything like this in the past,” said Virginia Stout, a wildlife veterinarian with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
Last year, a highly contagious strain of Avian Flu hit the country — including farms and backyards in Utah.
“It was early morning in mid-April of last year when one of the employees reported seeing some extraordinary number of birds dead at one of the buildings,” recalled Cliff Lillywhite with Oakdell Egg Farms. “We went out and knew something was bad right away because you just don’t see that kind of mortality.”
Lillywhite said those birds were tested and confirmed that they had avian flu. That’s when the Department of Agriculture stepped in and a million birds at that facility had to be euthanized.
“To be a part of having to put them down when they’re your friends, they’re your lifeblood, it's not fun to do,” he said. “We knew it had to be done and that was probably the correct thing to do… it does take a toll, there’s no question about it.”
Out of 2.2 million birds across the state that either died from the virus or were depopulated, over 1.5 million birds were in Cache County, about 700,000 in Sanpete county, and more detected in Iron, Salt Lake, Utah, and Weber counties.
And it’s a trickle-down effect that was felt by all of us.
“Eggs got a lot more expensive, turkey was really hard to find at Thanksgiving,” said Amanda Price, an interim state veterinarian with the Utah Department of Agriculture.
Avian Flu is carried by migratory birds. These wild birds are not infected with the virus themselves, but with how infectious this strain of the virus was, those wild birds were falling sick too. Many were found washed up along the shores of the Great Salt Lake.
Data from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources shows the wild birds with the highest detected cases were geese — about 40 percent. Other wild birds included owls, hawks, ducks, vultures, grebes, gulls, and pelicans.
With these rising water levels, Stout said this could bring more birds carrying the virus to the area.
“I do think we will still have cases. We are worried about the spring migration causing an elevation of our cases. But we’re hoping that since it has been around for a year, it might not be quite as devastating," she said.
Now, places with birds are strengthening bio-security measures to prevent another outbreak.
“We had to limit the number of people that can come on the farm,” said Lillywhite. That’s why FOX 13 News spoke to him over a video chat instead of meeting at the farm.
Places that are especially susceptible to the virus are doing their part too.
“Either by netting exhibits over, or providing feeding exclusion devices where our birds can eat without interacting with wild birds,” explained Kate Lyngle-Cowand, a curator of exhibit collections at Tracy Aviary.
“Avian Flu is definitely something that we’re concerned about, and we take it very seriously, but we also feel here at the aviary... our response plan is keeping our birds safe and allowing the aviary to function as normal,” added Cowand.
The aviary doesn’t allow the public to feed waterfowl anymore because it attracted other wild birds that could carry the virus, and those that prey on other birds that might get sick.
“Our golden eagles, for instance, they are known to hunt wild ducks that fly into their exhibit, and that is another way that the virus can be transferred, to raptors specifically,” said Cowand. “So netting the exhibits prevents the ducks from getting in with the eagles, and we just provide food we know is safe.”
It’s spreading to some mammals too — foxes, bears, mountain lions, skunks, seals and others, across the country. Here in Utah, a mountain lion and fox were found with the virus.
“What it means to us when we see infections in mammals is that the virus is changing, because flu viruses mix in animal hosts, and that’s where they change and develop new characteristics,” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, the chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah and director of epidemiology at Primary Children's Hospital.
Could Avian Flu ever infect humans? Dr. Pavia said we just don’t know.
“This H5N1 could never become a threat to humans or bigger threat to humans, and it could change quickly. It could take many years before these changes occur," he said.
The USDA is working on Avian Flu vaccine trials, with initial results expected later this month. The hope is to prevent future outbreaks.
“It’s, like, something you never want to have to repeat in your lifetime,” said Lillywhite.
