--- title: Solutions to Bird Flu Hatched date: 2025-04-30T05:30:00-04:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/solutions-to-bird-flu-hatched" section: Articles --- # Solutions to Bird Flu Hatched *April 30, 2025* — by [Karen Shih ’09](/author/karen-shih) > On the Farm and in the Lab, Researchers Are Fighting a Virus That’s Pushing Up Food Prices and Threatening a New Pandemic *Eggs Avian Flu TERP SC 03032025 SC 4699 1920x1080 — As bird flu ravages poultry populations across the United States, University of Maryland researchers are developing ways to understand and curb its spread.* **THAT CHILL IN THE EGG AISLE** isn’t just refrigeration. Grocery runs these days can feel a bit Soviet, with signs announcing carton rationing and apologizing for low stock. Even Waffle House—known for holding the line on prices—added a 50-cent surcharge to egg dishes. The once-affordable source of protein has become scarce for one reason: the latest strain of avian influenza, H5N1, a highly contagious and fatal virus. [Over 168 million birds](https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/commercial-backyard-flocks) have either died of the virus or been culled over the last three years. Most of those were egg-laying hens, which drove the average price of eggs up more than 60% by the end of 2024, with the [U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicting a 50% spike in 2025](https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings). The disease is spreading rapidly through wild birds, decimating waterfowl and even killing our national bird, the bald eagle. Alarmingly, it’s jumped to mammals as well. Cats are particularly susceptible, including pets, wildlife and zoo animals like lions and tigers; dairy cattle are a new host, putting at risk another grocery staple, milk. And as of April, 70 people have been infected after contact with diseased animals and one has died, fueling worries about human-to-human spread and a possible next pandemic. But long before most of us had heard of bird flu, University of Maryland researchers were already working to better understand it and curb its spread. Extension specialists are developing and disseminating the best biosecurity guidance to keep farms secure. Epidemiologists are tracking the virus’ path into and across the country. Lab researchers are using novel methods to understand the origins of avian influenza itself. “We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” says [veterinary medicine](https://vetmed.umd.edu/home/) Assistant Professor Mostafa Ghanem. “We have to do our best to contain it outside of humans as much as we can. No one can predict how (bird flu) will evolve.” Researchers have tracked “low-pathogenic” strains that produced mild symptoms like weight loss or lower egg production. In the 1990s, however, the far more dangerous H5N1 emerged in China and spread among wild birds, before conquering other nations in Asia and moving west. (In 2015, a related H5N2 strain reached the U.S.; farmers were able to eradicate it the next year by culling more than 50 million birds at a cost of $1.6 billion.) Then the H5N1 strain evolved and reemerged in 2021 to affect more wild birds, including raptors like owls and scavengers such as black vultures. It has since spilled over into domestic poultry as infected birds stop at a farm or surrounding areas, leaving virus particles in saliva, nasal secretions or feces. Outbreaks are most common during fall and winter migrations. Now the virus persists year-round, says Associate Professor Jennifer Mullinax of the [Department of Environmental Science and Technology](https://enst.umd.edu/home/). “We’re not seeing the drop-off we expect. The normal pattern is changing.” --- *chickens* **OUT WHERE MARYLAND’S EASTERN SHORE** shrinks to a narrow strip, sandwiched between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, sits Farhan Nasir’s poultry farm. He rises every day at 5 a.m. to check his 18 chicken houses in Pocomoke City, where he’s raised about 1.25 million broilers—meat chickens—each year for Perdue Farms for more than a decade. When bird flu reemerged with a vengeance this winter, striking eight farms on the Delmarva peninsula in January, he and his fellow farmers were terrified. Nearly half of Maryland’s agriculture production comes from chickens, and on the Eastern Shore, it rises to about 75%. “There’s a general sense of doom around,” says Nasir. “It’s very stressful psychologically and financially for the community.” *footbath on farm — Photo by Edwin H. Remsberg* *Jonathan Moyle — UMD Extension poultry specialist and Principal Agent Jonathan Moyle regularly educates farmers on biosecurity measures. (Photo by Edwin H. Remsberg)* --- *cow and cat in barnyard — Two mammal species susceptible to avian influenza meet in a barnyard—a setting where cows have recently passed the virus to humans. (Photo via Adobe Stock)* **WHAT’S COMING, UNFORTUNATELY,** could bring economic and health consequences far broader in scope than just wild birds and chicken farms. In March 2024, H5N1 was detected in dairy cattle in the U.S.—the first infection in cows anywhere. Cattle respond differently; rather than exhibit respiratory symptoms, they had reductions in milk production and mild fever, so farmers initially didn’t think to check for avian flu or take steps to stop it. The disease has since spread to cattle in 16 states. The virus was likely introduced by wild birds and then transmitted from cow to cow, says Ghanem, who studies the molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases and manages a USDA-funded project on bird flu biosecurity. Then it made another jump. As of April, [41 people have been infected with bird flu](https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html) via dairy cows, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though human symptoms have mostly been mild. The challenge is that dairy farms require far more human workers than poultry farms, which are largely automated, Ghanem says. Milking is still done manually, and many people interact with the milk as it’s processed. “We don’t want the virus to adapt to humans,” he says, so increased biosecurity efforts, ranging from personal protective equipment to better testing, is key. A [cattle vaccine in development](https://today.umd.edu/a-spray-in-a-cows-nose-could-soon-protect-it-and-people-from-bird-flu) by the chair of UMD’s [Department of Veterinary Medicine](https://vetmed.umd.edu/home/), Professor Xiaoping Zhu, could help stop that jump. In April, Zhu and Wenbin Tuo from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service received funding from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to adapt nasal spray technology they originally developed for COVID-19 and human influenza. By delivering a protein to the nasal passages that blocks viruses from infecting cells in the respiratory tract and preventing infections from starting, this greatly reduces the likelihood of humans and other animals contracting the virus from cows. And another mammal is at risk, with even closer ties to humans. Felines have long been susceptible to avian influenza, dating back at least 20 years to cases in Asia among both large cats on wildlife preserves and barn cats. The newest strain is particularly deadly, with about a 90% mortality rate, presenting a clear risk for the more than 74 million pet cats in the United States. Cats “are not being monitored for H5N1. It’s a big black box,” says [School of Public Health](https://sph.umd.edu/) Assistant Professor Kristen Coleman, an airborne infectious disease researcher who previously studied animal-human spillover events in Asia. She’s found a drastic increase in the number of cats reported with the disease, starting in 2023. Along with outdoor feral colonies contracting it from wild birds, the virus started showing up in indoor-only cats. The culprit is raw pet food, an unregulated industry that can source its meat from anywhere, including wild game, Coleman says. “In the best-case scenario, pets remain a dead end and don’t become a vector” to humans or other species, she says. “But even in that case, cats are the victims, and a lot of people’s hearts will be broken if they lose their pets.” Coleman is now working to collect blood samples with animal rescues and veterinarians in California, where several cat deaths have been connected to cattle outbreaks as well as to contaminated pet food, and in Maryland, where cat cases are starting to emerge. She’ll identify how widespread the virus is and eventually alert workers in those industries about what precautions to take. The CDC reported two possible cases of spread between felines and humans from May 2024, and there was at least one confirmed case in 2016. “Cats open up a whole new vulnerability,” she says. --- *researcher looks into microscope — Animal and avian science Assistant Professor Andrew Broadbent examines poultry gut “organoids” under a microscope. (Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle)* *Researcher prepares tranquilizer — Associate Professor of environmental science and technology Jennifer Mullinax prepares tranquilizer to study the possible spread of avian influenza to deer and bears. (Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle)* **Sidebar note:** **WHAT YOU CAN DO** **Food** • Buy only pasteurized milk. Avoid the raw product. • Cook poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. **Pets** **•** Keep cats indoors so they don’t come in contact with wild birds. • Don’t feed your cats raw pet food. • Call a vet immediately if your pet has respiratory or rabies-like symptoms, and request that they be screened for avian influenza. **Wildlife** • Avoid dead animals and droppings. • If you see a dead or sick bird, call the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Services hotline. **Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research) **Tags:** [Animal and Avian Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/animal-and-avian-sciences), [Environmental Science and Technology](https://today.umd.edu/topic/environmental-science-and-technology), [University of Maryland Extension](https://today.umd.edu/topic/university-of-maryland-extension-2), [Veterinary Medicine](https://today.umd.edu/topic/veterinary-medicine), [Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics](https://today.umd.edu/topic/cell-biology-and-molecular-genetics), [Research Impact](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research-impact), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research) **Units:** [College of Agriculture and Natural Resources](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-agriculture-and-natural-resources), [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences), [School of Public Health](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-public-health), [University of Maryland Extension](https://today.umd.edu/topic/university-of-maryland-extension)