February 3, 2023 – The massive outbreak of bird flu that's answerable for the exploding price of eggs now appears to be spreading to mammals.
The US Department of Agriculture and its counterpart within the Great Britain say the virus has been detected in mammals akin to raccoons, foxes, bears, skunks and even a cat in France.
To date, 208 million birds worldwide are affected by the outbreak, including 58 million within the United States, and not less than 200 cases have now been identified in mammals.
Most cases in mammals are considered brought on by scavengers, for instance when a raccoon has eaten an infected bird. However, an outbreak on a mink farm in Spain showed that the virus could have spread among the many animals, raising concerns about whether future mutations could trigger one other pandemic in humans, in keeping with The New York Times.
The risk of bird flu jumping from mammals to humans is currently low. World Health Organization says. Since the outbreak began in 2022, there have been 4 human cases and 1 death worldwide. One human case occurred in Colorado when a poultry employee fell in poor health in April 2022 after working with infected birds.
The current outbreak of bird flu involves a strain of avian influenza called H5N1. The WHO says scientific evidence suggests the strain is just not currently transmissible from individual to individual.
Properly handled and cooked poultry and eggs are suitable for eating because cooking to an internal temperature of 165 °F (74 °C) kills bacteria and viruses, including the H5N1 virus, in keeping with the CDC.