Farmers in Asia and Europe have destroyed millions of birds as they combat epidemics of avian influenza, says the Wall Street Journal. The United States lost 10 percent of its egg-laying hens in its worst-ever outbreak of bird flu in 2014-15 but this time, U.S. egg producers are enjoying higher prices as they ship eggs to South Korea.
Domestic egg prices are up as much as 20 cents a dozen, said an analyst with market-monitoring company Urner Barry. The Journal says U.S. producers over-expanded flocks in the wake of the bird flu epidemic. “But those gains could evaporate if bird flu surfaces again in U.S. commercial flocks,” says the Journal.
The H5N6 strain of the bird flu virus “has wiped out 32 million chickens in South Korea,” said the Journal. The disease has moved into Japan as well. Another strain of the virus, H5N8, has been found in two dozen countries in Europe and in China since November.
Disease experts say there have been so many outbreaks of avian influenza with different strains of the virus involved that it “increases the risk of viruses mixing and mutating — and possibly jumping to people,” said Reuters.