Bird flu could be silently spreading into dairy cows as egg prices are reaching record-breaking highs for consumers.
Fox News reported egg prices have risen by 53% since January 2024, and 15% since January 2025, driven by a bird flu which has had over 157 million cases effecting poultry farms since 2022.
Vice president of Eggs Unlimited Brian Moscogiuri told Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt there have been millions of birds killed over the last few years.
“The real crisis is that we’re going through the worst bird flu outbreak that we’ve had in the last 10 years since 2015,” Moscogiuri said. “Potentially the worst bird flu outbreak that we’ve ever had in the history of this country. We’ve lost 120 million birds since the beginning of 2022, in the last few months alone, since the middle of October, we’ve lost 45 million egg-laying hens, that’s out of the countries 310 million egg-laying hens.”
Moscogiuri said the situation is a “disaster” and has caused huge supply shortages.
“So, we’ve lost a significant amount of production, more than 13%. So, we’re just dealing with supply shortages, it’s just a disaster. This … virus is in the top three egg-laying states in the country. It doesn’t seem like it’s stopping any time soon,” he said.
Moscogiuri said they’re trying to figure out how the virus is getting in, but noted there are several different catalysts including migrating birds that have been flying over these states during winter and spring and further noted it has now spread to dairy cattle.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals that the H5N1 bird flu virus is likely circulating unnoticed in livestock across many regions of the country, potentially infecting veterinarians who are unaware of its presence.
In the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, researchers from the CDC, the Ohio Department of Health, and the American Association of Bovine Practitioners presented findings from their analysis of 150 bovine veterinarians from 46 states and Canada.
The study found that three veterinarians had antibodies for the H5N1 bird flu virus in their blood. However, none of the infected veterinarians recalled experiencing any symptoms, including conjunctivitis, or pink eye, which is the most commonly reported symptom in human cases.
Additionally, the three veterinarians informed investigators that they had not worked with cattle or poultry known to be infected with the virus. In one instance, a veterinarian reported only practicing in Georgia (with dairy cows) and South Carolina (with poultry)—two states that have not reported H5N1 infections in dairy cows.
Director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, Jennifer Nuzzo told the LA Times the study is both concerning but reassuring at the same time.
“On one hand, we see concerning evidence that there may be more H5N1 outbreaks on farms than are being reported,” Nuzzo said. “On the other hand, I’m reassured that there isn’t evidence that infections among vets have been widespread. This means there’s more work that can and should be done to prevent the virus from spreading to more farms and sickening workers.”
ABC News further reported because of the shortage, grocery stores have been forced to put purchase limits on their eggs, as a result, some have resorted to stealing them. Over 100,000 organic eggs were stolen earlier this month from a facility in Green Castle, Pennsylvania, with an estimated value of $40,000.
