Bird Flu Cases Surge In US - Here's What You Should Know

Federal health officials are monitoring a rising number of bird flu (avian influenza virus) cases at poultry farms along the East Coast and Midwest during the past few weeks, NBC News reports.

The virus is not currently believed to pose a threat to humans as of Thursday (March 24), but is still being monitored for potential mutations that could change that.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it will monitor humans who have been exposed to domestic and wild species infected with H5N1 as the virus has already been detected in commercial and backyard flocks in at least 17 states, marking the worst bird flu outbreak since 2015, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture via NBC News.

In December, Yossi Leshem, a top renowned ornithologist in Israel who works as a zoologist at Tel Aviv University and serves as the director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun, told the Daily Beast that bird flu posed a major global threat as it had the ability to mutate into new strains similarly to what has been seen from the coronavirus during the past two years.

“There could be a mutation that also infects people and turns into a mass disaster,” Leshem said.

Over half a billion migrating birds pass through the Galilee region -- where a massive outbreak was reported at the time -- every year before spending winters in warmer Africa or summers in balmy Europe, creating a threat of spreading the virus to different parts of the world.