Avian flu cases have emerged in flocks of both commercial and wild birds since 2022, contributing to spikes in egg prices, which crossed $4 a dozen in late 2024.
What is the avian flu?
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), commonly called the bird flu, is the general term for a group of viruses that usually spread between birds but can also infect mammals, including humans. The symptoms include those usually associated with the flu: fever, cough, sore throat, aches, and fatigue. With bird flu in particular, conjunctivitis is also common.
The health risk for humans is low — 67 people contracted bird flu in 2024, resulting in one death, and there hasn’t been any person-to-person spread — but the H5 strain of bird flu has been impacting America’s commercial poultry flocks on a large scale, and is now spreading among herds of cows.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most infections in people typically come from interacting with birds without protective equipment. In the current outbreak, though, 40 of 67 cases (60%) have come from exposure to infected cattle. There has been no reported spread between people during the current outbreak.
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How much US poultry and livestock has been impacted by the avian flu?
According to the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the current bird flu outbreak is widespread among both wild birds and commercial poultry and cattle.
Poultry
Since 2022, a total of 1,431 poultry flocks of varying sizes across all 50 states and Puerto Rico have had reported cases of avian flu. This includes 652 commercial flocks and 779 flocks kept by individual owners, known as “backyard flocks.”
The USDA estimates that the impacted flocks contain 138.7 million individual birds. In 2023, the poultry industry as a whole has an estimated 9.4 billion chickens being raised for their meat and 378.5 million for egg-laying, along with 218 million turkeys.
Iowa (30.0 million) and California (23.0 million) have been home to about 38% of all impacted birds. In 2022, these states ranked 11th and 10th in total poultry inventory. The states with the country’s largest poultry industries — Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas — had comparably few impacted birds.
The number of monthly affected birds spiked in late 2024, from 4.4 million in October to 18.3 million in December. As of January 17, an additional 8.4 million have been affected in 2025.
Cattle
In 2024, bird flu was identified in cows for the first time. Since then, there have been 929 confirmed cases across 16 states, 77% of which have been in California, which was home to 6% of the country’s cattle as of 2022. An additional two non-cattle livestock cases have been identified in a pig in Oregon and an alpaca in Idaho.
Most of the cases in cattle (72%, or 673 out of 929) were identified between October and December 2024, the same period when cases rose in birds.
Other animals
There have also been reported cases in 38 other mammals across the country since 2022, including domestic cats, mice, foxes, skunks, dolphins, lions, tigers, and bears. Mammals get bird flu through interacting with infected birds, contaminated environments, or intermediate hosts (like other mammals).
How does the avian flu impact what you spend at the grocery store?
Aside from the loss of animal life and the threat to humans, one consequence of avian flu outbreaks is its impact on the production supply of grocery staples like eggs, leading to shortages that increase prices. In 2022, the USDA attributed record-high wholesale egg prices to reduced flock numbers thanks to the avian flu outbreak.
How high are egg prices?
At the grocery store, egg prices have been volatile since the start of the outbreak, with the USDA pointing to the flu as one cause. Prices rose from an average price of $2.17 a dozen in January 2022 to $5.10 a year later, a 135% increase. They fell below $3.00 in 2023 and 2024 before rising back to $4.15 a dozen in December 2024.
Is avian flu increasing the prices of other groceries?
Not at the moment; the latest government reports don't attribute increases in the price of milk or other dairy products to the outbreak in cattle. Still, some farmers were eligible for a USDA assistance program designed for farmers who incur losses in production as a result of disease.
Can bird flu spread through food? Does it impact food safety?
According to the Food and Drug Administration, the chance of catching bird flu through properly prepared food is slim. In the case of eggs, the agency says it’s unlikely that contaminated eggs would reach the retail market or that eating them would pose a health risk. Milk is safe as well, since the pasteurization process inactivates the virus.
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Page sources and methodology
All of the data on the page was sourced directly from government agencies. The analysis and final review was performed by USAFacts.
US Department of Agriculture
Avian Influenza
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
H5 Bird Flu: Current Situation
