The bird flu remains a concern in the United States (U.S.) as cases increase among birds and mammals, with a reported increase in human cases since Feb. 7, 2025.
As of Mar. 7, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported 70 human cases, with one human death since January 2025, which occurred in Louisiana. Currently, there is no significant risk to public health and no instances of person-to-person viral infection.
The main mode of transmission of H5N1, the virus that causes bird flu, onto humans remains from coming into contact with infected birds or other mammals. The bird flu outbreak began in January 2022 and has been detected in over 166 million poultry, 978 dairy herds and 12,467 wild birds.
What constitutes direct contact with H5N1 infected birds and mammals can vary. The most-at-risk group of individuals contracting H5N1 are those who work in farms or are in close proximity with these animals, as they are more likely to come into contact with an infected animal’s bodily fluids or surfaces and droplets that have been contaminated with these bodily fluids.
For all other populations in the country, it is what people consume that may ultimately lead to an H5N1 infection. As the CDC reported, chicken flocks and dairy cattle are the most affected farm animals; these animals also happen to be the major sources of poultry and dairy for human consumption.
Hence, consumers may acquire the bird flu if they eat an infected chicken or dairy cattle’s product.
Experts suggest fully cooking chicken and eggs at appropriate temperatures because high temperatures inactivate the virus, and avoiding feeding raw chicken to household pets at the moment, as uncooked chicken from an infected bird can lead the pet to get H5N1. One product of a cat food brand, Wild Coast, has been recalled because of the risk of cats contracting the virus from eating raw chicken.
There are no concerns with beef because this meat comes from beef cattle, whereas milk comes from dairy cattle.
The grocery product consumers must be cautious towards is raw milk, as drinking raw milk remains a popular mode of transmission into humans. Raw milk houses all the bacteria and H5N1 that the dairy cattle carry, therefore drinking the milk will harm the individual. Opt for pasteurized milk, which has been rid of all bacteria along with viruses that can impact people’s health.
When farm animals are infected with H5N1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) takes steps to prevent the products from reaching consumers; this usually involves mass depopulation or culling of chicken flocks. As this method has been effective in reducing transmission to humans, farmers have faced drastic disadvantages, as they have lost millions of chickens.
To address the disadvantage to farmers, while also maintaining public safety, the USDA conditionally approved a vaccine–a H5N2 subtype, killed virus– that will be manufactured by Zoetis. This vaccine will be used specifically on chicken flocks that have been detected to have H5N1.
The U.S. government, however, is unsure if they will proceed with the vaccination process.
The 70 human reported cases were mostly from exposure to cattle and poultry farms/culling operations. Currently, 13 states have had human cases of the bird flu; California, Washington and Colorado have reported 38, 11 and 10 cases, respectively, while all other 11 states have reported one human case. Louisiana, as of date, has only had one human case of the bird flu, which now is the only human death in the nation thus far from the virus.