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Wired

Mega-Farms Are Driving the Threat of Bird Flu

Wired
Summary
Nutrition label

82% Informative

H5N1 virus, commonly known as bird flu, has rippled through the massive herds that provide most of the country’s milk.

Researchers say large livestock facilities in states across the country, and especially in California , have become the epicenters of these cases.

More drought and higher temperatures, fueled by climate change, supercharge those conditions.

Some wild birds are migrating earlier than usual, hatching juvenile birds in new or different habitats.

That could have initiated the spillover from wild birds to poultry, where it has become especially virulent.

In wild birds, the virus tends to be a low pathogenic strain that occurs naturally, causing only minor symptoms in some birds.