Preliminary tests have detected bird flu in a backyard flock in New Haven County, according to 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 Department of Agriculture. The comes about a week after another backyard flock in New London County tested positive for the disease on Jan. 15.
The birds were destroyed as a precautionary measure.
While Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 has not yet been detected at any commercial farm in 黑料吃瓜网, Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt said the state Department of Agriculture is regularly working with poultry farmers to make sure they know what is needed in order to keep their flocks safe.
鈥淸We鈥檙e] talking to them about their biosecurity protocols and viewing what's happening at their production facilities,鈥� Hurlburt said.
黑料吃瓜网 is New England鈥檚 largest commercial egg producer, with nearly 1,000 poultry and egg farms that generated more than $49 million in sales in 2022, according to the .
to stem the spread of bird flu include:
- Keep wild birds and rodents out of poultry houses and coops.
- Don鈥檛 let poultry have contact with migratory waterfowl or other wild birds.
- Wash hands and disinfect boots before and after entering the poultry area.
- Do not share equipment or other supplies between coops or other farms.
- Clean and disinfect equipment and supplies between uses.
- Buy birds from reputable sources to receive healthy birds.
- Restrict traffic onto and off your property.
Hurlburt said these to prevent bird flu infections don't just apply to commercial egg producers, but also to any 黑料吃瓜网 resident with a backyard flock, whatever its size.
Human health precautions
While no human cases of bird flu have been reported in the Northeast, there have been at least where a human contracted H5N1 from poultry or dairy cattle in other regions of the country.
黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 Health Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said H5N1 is a respiratory disease spread in a similar fashion to many flu viruses.
鈥淭he mucus membrane contact is still where we think the primary contact is happening,鈥� Juthani said.
That鈥檚 why hand washing is key, according to Juthani.
鈥淚f you get infected on your hands and then you rub your eyes, you rub your nose, or you do any of those kinds of things where your mucus membranes are getting directly impacted by the virus,鈥� she said, that puts humans at risk.
Because infected animals shed the virus in feces, Juthani said 黑料吃瓜网 residents with a backyard flock may also carry fecal matter into a house and that could become dust in the air.
鈥淚t now can become a direct, in terms of mucus membrane, contact,鈥� she said, which is why washing footwear is recommended after interactions with birds.
But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since it cannot be transmitted from human to human, only from animal to human.
chair of Infectious Disease and Global Health at Tufts University explains why.
鈥淢ost of the viruses that circulate in birds don't do well in humans because humans don't have the same distribution of receptors in the upper respiratory tract birds do,鈥� Runstadler said.
But Runstadler added that this H5N1 virus seems to do well at binding to a lot of different species of hosts, which is not normally the case for bird flu.
, , , and are becoming infected and dying.
Juthani said there is the concern that if it is allowed to spread it could 鈥渢ake on a genetic feature that allows it to transfer from human-to-human."
鈥淲e're trying to reduce the chance or risk that this becomes something bigger than what it is right now,鈥� Juthani said.
Impacts at the grocery store
Runstadler said the strain of bird flu detected in 黑料吃瓜网 this month is the same one that first began killing birds in 2022 in North America, but it has been around in other parts of the world for more than 20 years.
Since its first detection in the U.S. in 2022, it has led to the destruction of tens of millions of egg laying chickens and sparked a surge in egg prices in 2023.
, the nationwide average of a cost of a dozen eggs in January 2023 was $4.82, more than double from the same time period the year before.
After that record, prices began to drop and bottomed out in August 2023, with an average price of just over $2. But since then, prices have resumed climbing. In December 2024, the nationwide average for a dozen eggs was $4.14.
The loss of commercial egg laying chickens is not showing any signs of slowing down. More than 21 million were destroyed last month and through the first three weeks of 2025, according to the .
Even so, the USDA expects 1.2% more eggs will be produced nationwide in 2025 than in 2024, but , the year before the North American bird flu outbreak began.
