As those birds traveled, so did the virus. For commercial and backyard flocks, many early infections centered along the intersection of the Central and Mississippi flyways of migratory wild birds. Unlike the 2014-15 outbreak, this one is being driven by wild birds, not by farm-to-farm transmission. In Iowa, two massive egg-laying operations had to cull more than 5 million birds in single incidents earlier this year.

The losses stretch across the U.S., and they're deepest in the country's middle: More than 1 million birds have been killed in each of 11 states that stretch from Utah to the Midwest and on to Delaware, according to the U.S. Here's what you need to know about the 2022 outbreak in the U.S.: 52,695,450 million birds have been wiped out That includes millions of chickens and turkeys in barns and backyards that had been raised to provide eggs or meat.

Some birds have died from the disease itself, but the vast majority are being culled through flock 'depopulation,' to try to stop the virus from spreading. 'I'm hopeful that this is not the new normal for us,' Richard Webby, director of the World Health Organization's Collaborating Center for Studies on the the Ecology of Influenza in Animals, tells NPR. That earlier outbreak also started in the winter - but while that ordeal was over by the following June, the current outbreak lasted through the summer and has surged anew. It's the worst toll on the poultry industry since 2014-2015, when more than 50 million birds died. It has ravaged farm flocks and chicken yards in 46 states since February, when the first cases were reported in commercial flocks.

The culprit is highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI. is enduring an unprecedented poultry health disaster, with a highly contagious bird flu virus triggering the deaths of some 52.7 million animals. A wave of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu has entered Southern California, driven by wild bird migration. Rescued chickens gather in an aviary at Farm Sanctuary's Southern California Sanctuary on Oct.

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