Medical Express Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have identified a few instances of asymptomatic human infection with avian influenza A (H5N1) virus. Widespread in wild birds worldwide, H5N1 has been causing outbreaks in poultry for several years. Recent “egg-flation” price increases for eggs in the US were largely due to a disruption of the egg supply chain caused by the virus, which forced the culling of entire farm flocks to prevent further spread.
Since the first recorded human cases in 1997, more than a thousand people have been infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain across 25 countries. According to the CDC, the mortality rate from H5N1 observed globally has been around 50%. Most cases have been traced to exposure to infected poultry, with recent cases in U.S. dairy cows linked to several recent human cases.