By Sama Marwan,
The outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza virus in the United States over the past three years has forced American farms to cull 158 million birds, leading to a sharp rise in egg prices. To address this crisis, authorities have decided to import thousands of tons of eggs from Turkey.
According to Le Monde, citing Turkish media, the U.S. has reached a preliminary agreement to import 15,000 tons of eggs from Ankara between now and June. The consequences of the bird flu outbreak have worsened in the U.S., while official health agencies struggle with regulatory rollbacks implemented by the Trump administration.
The virus, which has been spreading in the U.S. since 2022, worsened this past winter, prompting authorities to cull 18 million birds in December 2024 and another 23 million in January 2025, according to the Department of Agriculture.
On February 7, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the closure of all live bird markets in the city to curb the spread of H5N1.
While Donald Trump boasts about controlling inflation, prices continue to rise. The average price of a dozen eggs jumped 65% in one year, from $2.50 to $4.15 in December 2024. By January 2025, it hit a record high of $4.95, more than double the August 2023 low of $2.04.
High egg prices accounted for two-thirds of the total increase in food costs in January, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The USDA warned in January that egg prices could rise by another 20% in 2025, with social media users sharing photos of price tags reaching $10 per dozen.
The virus has not only spread in poultry farms but has also infected cattle, especially in California, where 739 out of 962 affected dairy farms are located across 16 states, according to official data from February 5.
Since early 2024, 69 human cases have been reported in the U.S., including the death of a 65-year-old man in Louisiana who had contact with infected animals. In Nevada, cattle tested positive for a different strain of bird flu known to cause severe illness in humans, raising concerns about increased risks to humans and growing infections in mammals, including domestic cats.
The bird flu crisis is escalating at a time when the Trump administration is planning to lay off 1,300 public health workers from the federal agency responsible for disease prevention and control. Researchers have also raised concerns over the temporary disappearance of the “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report”, a key epidemiological reference for decades.
