New case of human bird flu in LA comes as egg prices rise

On By Littum

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Health officials on Monday confirmed the first case of a person with bird flu in Los Angeles County.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said in a news release that the person with bird flu was exposed to infected livestock at a workplace. The ill person had mild symptoms and was treated with antivirals, county health officials said.

There have been 37 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans in California, according to figures last updated Monday California Department of Public Health. That’s three confirmed cases in less than a week.

The risk of bird flu to the general public remains low, although people in specific jobs, including farm workers, are at higher risk of getting it.

This news follows Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent declaration of a state of emergency to combat bird flu in California, a disease that has been ravaging the state’s dairy and poultry farms for months. That includes 650 dairies infected since bird flu was first detected at dairies in California earlier this yearsaid the California Department of Food and Agriculture on Dec. 19.

Bird flu continues to be confirmed in poultry flocks in the state, including commercial flocks in Merced, Monterey and Tulare Counties, the state Department of Food and Agriculture announced throughout December. Since 2022, more than 125 million birds have been affected in the United States by this bird flu outbreak, according to US Department of Agriculture. Affected birds means the number of birds on confirmed infected premises, the USDA explained.

The bird flu has also affected Americans in another capacity. It affects egg prices. The average price of a dozen large A eggs was $3.65 in November, up 28 cents from October and more than a dollar at the beginning of the year, USA TODAY reported.

How does bird flu affect egg prices?

The USDAs overview of egg markets The report Friday said that this year, 36.8 million edible egg-laying birds in a dozen states, including California, were lost to bird flu outbreaks and facility fires. Specifically, California has lost more than 7 million edible egg-laying birds to bird flu and fire since January. The only state with more losses was Iowa.

More than a third of the total losses across California and the other 11 states have occurred since November, resulting in sharp price increases as we enter “the peak annual demand for shell eggs.”

“Demand for shell eggs strengthened during the holiday week as consumers finalize holiday preparations,” according to the USDA’s report, and concerns about “tight” supplies due to bird flu outbreaks in laying flocks are “driving wholesale prices to near-record levels.”

Eggs are especially in demand during the winter holidays, Marc Dresner, director of integrated communications for the American Egg Board, told Visalia Times-Delta. That is why they are more expensive around holidays because more are sold, he said.

“Eggs are sold as a commodity, just like wheat and corn and other agricultural products, and they’re sold in markets, and those market prices are very much driven by supply and demand,” he said.

But with the national supply of eggs affected by bird flu, there is a “tighter supply” than preferred during a “peak season,” and thus reflected in wholesale prices, Dresner said.

Visalia Times-Delta reporter Steve Pastis contributed to this article.