Important Takeaways:
- Minnesota has declared a state of emergency over the rise of three diseases on commercial farms.
- The state’s Department of Agriculture issued the alert due to outbreaks of three viral infections among animals in the state.
- Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) is a respiratory disease that spreads among poultry and has been triggering outbreaks in the state since 2024.
- Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and the H5N1 bird flu virus are viral infections circulating among wild and domestic birds.
- HPAI refers to several strains of bird flu that can cause severe disease in birds, while H5N1 is the name of the most concerning virus that has jumped to humans.
- Thom Petersen, the state’s agriculture commissioner, said the move was an ‘important step in helping Minnesota farmers affected by these… diseases’.
- The declaration means that the state can now offer zero-interest loans to farmers who are forced to cull their flocks or lose cattle because of infections.
- California has also declared an emergency over the bird flu outbreak.
- The outbreaks are leading to the mass culling of domestic birds which has driven up the price of eggs — with the average price now having risen 65 percent since the start of 2024 to around $4.95 a dozen.
- It comes after a farm worker in Ohio became the fourth American to be hospitalized with bird flu this weekend suffering from respiratory symptoms, with the case reported just 24 hours after another in Wyoming.
- Minnesota has detected more than 871 cases of aMPV since April 2024 — compared to the national tally of 2,355 cases over the year to August last year.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins told Breitbart News late last week that President Donald Trump and his administration are keenly focused on lowering the price of eggs in the United States and prepared to take any and all actions needed to do so.
- Food prices have continued to rise—the recent economic numbers released earlier this month showed that the inflation that soared under former President Joe Biden was much worse than anyone in Washington realized—including most particularly the price of eggs. The egg industry has been rocked not just by inflation but also avian flu infecting hens nationwide, leading to shortages so bad that some stores are even implementing limits on how many eggs customers can buy.
- I think it’s real important for your audience to understand these egg prices are at an almost 40-year high and that this has been an upward trajectory for a little while. Now, under the four years of Trump, they came back down in ’17, ’18, ’19, and ’20. At least in recent history, those years we had some of the lowest prices on record.”
- “…and why more wasn’t done to address it three years ago, two years ago, one year ago? I’m still trying to figure out. But we’re on it. We’re on it. And we’re going to do everything we can to address it.”
- Asked for more specifics on what USDA might consider in combatting these issues with the dueling threats of inflation and avian flu, Rollins suggested possible biosecurity measures as well as efforts to repopulate farmers’ flocks.
- “…There is a good chance we begin to cool this down over the coming weeks, more likely the coming months, and we’re already in talks with other food producers across the country, but I think it’s important everyone realize there is not a magic wand to be waved here. But there are some things we can do to begin tackling it not just for the next quarter of this year but for the next 10 years and 50 years to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
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Important Takeaways:
- A new study provides evidence that a spillover of avian influenza from birds to dairy cattle across several U.S. states has now led to mammal-to-mammal transmission—between cows and from cows to cats and a raccoon.
- So far, 11 human cases have been reported in the U.S., with the first dating back to April 2022, each with mild symptoms: four were linked to cattle farms and seven have been linked to poultry farms, including an outbreak of four cases reported in the last few weeks in Colorado.
- “The concern is that potential mutations could arise that could lead adaptation to mammals, spillover into humans and potential efficient transmission in humans in the future,” Diel said.
- Sequencing also showed that the virus was transmitted to cats, a raccoon and wild birds that were found dead on affected farms. The cats and raccoon most likely became ill from drinking raw milk from infected cows.
- Though it isn’t known how the wild birds became infected, the researchers suspect it may have resulted from environmental contamination or aerosols kicked up during milking or cleaning of the milking parlors.
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Important Takeaways:
- 70 Dairy Farm Workers in Colorado Monitored for Symptoms After Exposure to Bird Flu Virus
- Colorado health authorities are closely monitoring 70 dairy farm workers after a potential exposure to the bird flu virus on a northeastern farm. This situation follows a recent announcement of a second possible bird flu outbreak affecting a dairy herd in the state.
- The virus has now been detected in 36 dairy herds across nine states, one of which is located in Colorado. As the virus transitions between birds and cattle, it is at risk of mutating further, according to experts, potentially enhancing its capability to infect humans.
- Rachel Herlihy, MD, MPH, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Chief Epidemiologist at the Colorado Department of Public Health, stated that while the overall risk to humans is low, it varies based on exposure levels.
- She noted that approximately 70 farm workers in Colorado have been under observation, and to date, none have exhibited symptoms.
- In a recent Senate Committee briefing, Dr. Robert Califf, the head of the FDA, announced proactive measures being implemented in preparation for a potential bird flu pandemic that could prove deadly to a significant portion of the infected population.
- “This virus, like all viruses, is mutating,” Dr. Califf claimed to the lawmakers. “We need to continue to prepare for the possibility that it might jump to humans.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Avian flu is devastating farms in California’s ‘Egg Basket’ as outbreaks roil poultry industry
- A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc on California poultry farms
- Last month, Mike Weber got the news every poultry farmer fears: His chickens tested positive for avian flu.
- Following government rules, Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, had to slaughter its entire flock of egg-laying hens — 550,000 birds — to prevent the disease from infecting other farms in Sonoma County north of San Francisco.
- “It’s a trauma. We’re all going through grief as a result of it,” said Weber, standing in an empty hen house. “Petaluma is known as the Egg Basket of the World. It’s devastating to see that egg basket go up in flames.”
- A year after the bird flu led to record egg prices and widespread shortages, the disease known as highly pathogenic avian influenza is wreaking havoc in California, which escaped the earlier wave of outbreaks that devastated poultry farms in the Midwest.
- The highly contagious virus has ravaged Sonoma County, where officials have declared a state of emergency. During the past two months, nearly a dozen commercial farms have had to destroy more than 1 million birds to control the outbreak, dealing an economic blow to farmers, workers and their customers.
- While bird flu has been around for decades, the current outbreak of the virus that began in early 2022 has prompted officials to slaughter nearly 82 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens, in 47 U.S. states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Whenever the disease is found the entire flock is slaughtered to help limit the spread of the virus.
- The price of a dozen eggs more than doubled to $4.82 at its peak in January 2023.
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Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.
Important Takeaways:
- Bird flu: H5N1 virus in Brazil wild birds prompts animal health emergency
- Brazil – the world’s biggest chicken meat exporter with US$9.7bn in sales in 2022 – has so far confirmed eight cases of the H5N1 in wild birds, including seven in Espirito Santo state and one in Rio de Janeiro state.
- The agriculture ministry said on Monday that it had created an emergency operations center to coordinate, plan and evaluate “national actions related to avian influenza.”
- H5N1 infection in wild birds does not trigger trade bans, based on guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health. However, a case of bird flu on a farm usually results in the entire flock being killed and can trigger trade restrictions from importing countries.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- Avian flu outbreak wipes out 50M US birds, a record
- Avian flu has wiped out 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the country’s deadliest outbreak in history, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed on Thursday.
- The deaths of chickens, turkeys and other birds represent the worst U.S. animal-health disaster to date, topping the previous record of 50.5 million birds that died in an avian-flu outbreak in 2015.
- Losses of poultry flocks sent prices for eggs and turkey meat to record highs, worsening economic pain for consumers facing red-hot inflation and making Thursday’s Thanksgiving celebrations more expensive in the United States.
- Europe and Britain are also suffering their worst avian-flu crises, and some British supermarkets rationed customers’ egg purchases after the outbreak disrupted supplies.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
Important Takeaways:
- Bird flu spreads to Southern California, infecting chickens, wild birds and other animals
- After proliferating globally, a historic wave of avian flu has entered Southern California, where it is worrying farmers and bird lovers and could add to complications with supply chains and food prices.
- In North America alone, an estimated 50 million birds have succumbed, which experts say is probably a vast undercount. And though government officials are primarily concerned about poultry farms, the epidemic has struck wild birds, too — from waterfowl to raptors and vultures.
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Revelations 6:8 “I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.”
Important Takeaways:
- Bird Flu Outbreak Nears Worst Ever in U.S. With 37 Million Animals Dead
- A bird flu virus that’s sweeping across the U.S. is rapidly becoming the country’s worst outbreak, having already killed over 37 million chickens and turkeys, with more deaths expected through next month as farmers perform mass culls.
- Under guidance of the federal government, farms must destroy entire commercial flocks if just one bird tests positive for the virus, to stop the spread.
- In Wisconsin, lines of dump trucks have taken days to collect masses of bird carcasses and pile them in unused fields. Neighbors live with the stench of the decaying birds.
- The crisis is hurting egg-laying hens and turkeys the most, with the disease largely being propagated by migrating wild birds that swarm above farms and leave droppings that get tracked into poultry houses
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Revelations 6:8 “And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.”
Important Takeaways:
- Avian flu has spread to 27 states, sharply driving up egg prices
- The price of eggs has soared in recent weeks in part because of a huge bird flu wave that has infected nearly 27 million chickens and turkeys in the United States, forcing many farmers to “depopulate” or destroy their animals to prevent a further spread.
- On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced yet another outbreak, this one in two flocks in Idaho, making that the 27th state in which the virus has been found since February.
- According to the USDA, the price of a dozen eggs in November hovered around $1. Right now, that price is $2.95 and rising.
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