Bird flu research: This time it's different: wild birds are spreading the virus

 Headline:  WITF, 2/28/2025

Rachel McDevitt reports:  

Louise Moncla, assistant professor of pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, was part of a panel of experts who testified this week to a joint hearing of the state House committees on agriculture and health. 

Moncla’s lab is tracking the avian flu virus. She said the virus causing the outbreak that started three years ago is harder to contain than viruses from previous outbreaks. In 2015, she said the U.S. culled about 50 million domestic birds and halted a bird flu outbreak. This time around, more than 160 million birds have been euthanized, and the virus is still spreading. 

Moncla said past avian flu outbreaks were mainly spread by birds on farms. But now it’s wild birds that are responsible for the spread of the flu. 

“Because these wild birds are migratory, these viruses can be spread very far geographic distances very rapidly when these birds migrate,” she said.\

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