What Minnesotans need to know about bird flu risks

For turkey farmer Erica Sawatzke, Thanksgiving was going terribly.

It was 2023, and while others were eating their turkey dinners, Sawatzke felt a pit growing in her stomach as her flocks seemed to be suffering. The sixth-generation farmer thought to herself, “This has got to be high path avian influenza.”

Mortality from the H5N1 avian influenza virus was skyrocketing on her farm, and she had to put down all 15,000 of her turkeys, including some that were not sick, to halt the spread of the infectious disease. Minnesota farmers euthanized more than a million turkeys that year that would’ve otherwise ended up in the food system.

“As a farmer, you are part of the circle of life — and that’s your responsibility — and we take a lot of pride in in being able to to feed people,” she said. “Seeing your turkeys suffer, that’s pretty challenging.”

Consumers are lamenting shortages in eggs caused by the virus. But the effects of H5N1 aren’t limited to farms and grocery aisles in Minnesota.

Public health leaders are preparing for any jump in human cases of the virus. Agriculture officials have begun testing milk. And margin-squeezed turkey farmers are using lasers to scare off migratory birds — many of which are about to glide over the North Star State and threaten its livestock.

There has not been any reported human-to-human transmission of the avian influenza virus referred to as H5N1, but there are concerns this could change. Genetic reassortment could mix the virus with the common flu and raise pandemic concerns by creating an “influenza strain that we’ve not seen before,” said Melissa McMahon, supervisor for the influenza surveillance unit at the Minnesota Department of Health.

The CDC says the virus remains a low public health risk for the general population. The situation is different for dairy and poultry workers, as well as backyard farmers.

It is impossible to know when or whether H5N1 will pose a threat to the general public or evolve into a pandemic risk, which would occur if it starts routinely spreading from person to person, McMahon said. A study in the journal Science found a single mutation in bovine (cow) H5N1 could indicate a risk for a human pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the current public health risk remains low, reporting 70 cases in the U.S. and one death, a person in Louisiana. All the human cases so far were contracted from animals.

There have been no reported human infections in Minnesota.

The Health Department would only be concerned about symptoms in people who have had direct contact with sick animals or their environments. H5N1 symptoms in humans are similar to the flu, McMahon said, with cough, headaches and body aches occurring. Pink eye, or conjunctivitis, stands out as a symptom of the malady.

With symptoms such as decreased appetite, decreased milk production and fever, dairy cows often don’t die from the virus and instead “have an illness like people” with influenza, said Dr. Malia Ireland, the deputy state public health veterinarian. Workers are exposed to these infected cows as they milk and care for them while recovering, she said.

The USDA has reported nine confirmed cases in Minnesota dairy cows. Last month, the state started testing raw milk samples collected from each of Minnesota’s about 1,600 dairy farms on a monthly basis for H5N1.

Backyard farmers should monitor their poultry flock for illness and call a veterinarian for testing if their birds die, Ireland said. She also recommends they wear protective equipment like N95 masks, eye protection, gloves, boots and dedicated coveralls. Handling infected bird carcasses is a key vector to spreading H5N1 to humans.

“We need to protect ourselves — to be selfish about this,” said Dr. Carol Cardona, the Pomeroy Endowed Chair in Avian Health at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine, about wearing protective gear.

McMahon expects to see human vaccines produced if human-to-human transmission begins occurring routinely.

Minnesota agriculture commissioner Thom Petersen said bird flu’s starting to wear on turkey farmers.

Roughly 6.2 million turkeys raised for their meat have died due to H5N1 outbreaks in Minnesota since 2022 — about a 2.5 times greater toll than that of egg-laying chickens in the state. The virus is considered highly pathogenic as it kills up to 100% of the poultry that contracts it.

Turkey flocks are also facing another potentially fatal virus causing respiratory distress in birds called avian metapneumovirus, which can have an even greater economic toll than bird flu, said Ashley Kohls, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.

“There’s a lot of fatigue,” Kohls said.

Sawatzke, the turkey farmer, had to start cleaning and disinfecting her barns while she was still grieving the loss of her thousands of birds. Her farm was hit by a tornado in 2017, which she said prepared her for the devastation. She’s not sure how the virus landed in her barn six years later.

“It’s a vicious disease,” Sawatzke said.

Petersen said the state is giving out grants for defenses like lasers to scare wild birds away. He said Minnesota has a higher uptake of farms adopting protective gear for workers than other states.

State officials generally say the United States should consider adopting vaccines for its poultry flocks. The USDA has conditionally approved a vaccine, but trade concerns have delayed adoption.

“It’s a super-complicated issue,” said Dr. Shauna Voss, who oversees poultry programs for the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. If vaccinations occur, she said officials will need to monitor whether flocks still spread the virus afterward.

Egg prices are up. Eggs are safe to eat, as are turkey and pasteurized milk products.

On a recent Monday night, downtown Minneapolis shoppers encountered empty shelves at Trader Joe’s and limited options at a Whole Foods and a Target. Shelves at Cub and Lunds & Byerlys looked more plentiful.

A Trader Joe’s spokesperson said in an email that the chain hopes limiting customers to a dozen eggs per day “will help to ensure that as many of our customers who need eggs are able to purchase them.” A Target spokesperson said the majority of stores have eggs in stock — only Hawaii stores have purchase limits — and it’ll continue to adjust as it works “with our suppliers to keep eggs available as the industry experiences constraints.”

Egg prices have outpaced inflation since 2022. Mark Bergen, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota, said retailers have low margins, so they pass prices on to consumers to survive. Bergen said inflation “tends to rise like rockets and fall like feathers.”

In the long run, consumers may switch recipes and find different protein sources, Bergen said.

Ireland said pasteurization kills the virus in milk products. Eggs from chickens testing positive would not enter the food system.