Egg prices have skyrocketed in the USA. Last December, in fact, the average cost of a twelve-piece box was $4.25, more than double 12 months earlier, when it was $1.9. And, likewise, wholesale prices also saw a 300% increase. What are the reasons? It is a combination of factors that has recently made eggs and poultry increasingly scarce on the shelves, namely the increase in demand for the end-of-year holidays as well as the impact of inflation. Even if, according to experts, the real culprit is represented by the outbreaks of a highly contagious avian flu which has been affecting farms throughout the country for some months now. In particular, regarding 47 states to date.
The alarm of the local authorities
In fact, the American health authorities have raised an alarm, worried about the mutations of a virus that has favored new infections on various animal species, especially among mammals. In addition to poultry, in fact, among the breeds affected in the US there are also foxes, bears, dolphins, wild birds and mink. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have just recently issued new recommendations aimed at those who work in poultry farms. The obligation, for everyone, is to wear gloves and masks, trying to avoid touching the animals.
The mutation that can transmit the virus to humans has not appeared
This is the first time since 2016 that a similar bird flu has hit the country. And, according to reports from specialists, we are talking about the strongest wave ever recorded. “The size of the outbreak and the number of animal species affected is unprecedented,” said University of Massachusetts virologist Nichola Hill. Among the factors that most concern the experts, then, is precisely the contagion among minks. “This infectivity is new, we have never seen it before. For now, the mutation capable of transmitting the virus to humans has not appeared and may never appear, but every time it is like pulling data and we must be on guard”, he underlined.
Source-tg24.sky.it