Avian influenza, or “bird flu,” is a disease caused by influenza A viruses that spread widely among wild birds, and can cause outbreaks in commercial and backyard poultry flocks.
Though there are many kinds of bird flu, one especially contagious strain called highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) has led to poultry outbreaks in all 50 states. The strain has also infected dairy cows in more than a dozen states.
The ongoing bird flu outbreak in the United States has prompted multiple questions from people online, including if bird flu can spread between humans and whether it’s safe to drink milk and eat eggs.
VERIFY is answering eight common questions about the H5N1 bird flu virus.
THE SOURCES
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Madison and Dane County Public Health in Wisconsin
- University of Chicago Medicine article
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- Article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in October 2024
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- The Cleveland Clinic
- Mount Sinai Hospital
- USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- Article published by the University of California Davis
- AARP
- American Veterinary Medical Association
- American Kennel Club
- Lakeside Animal Hospital
- Oregon Department of Agriculture
- Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
- Ready.gov
- Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health
- Connecticut State Department of Public Health
- Nature.com article
- Darin Detwiler, an associate teaching professor of food policy at Northeastern University
WHAT WE FOUND
QUESTION #1
Has anyone in the U.S. ever contracted bird flu?
THE ANSWER
Human cases of bird flu are rare, but they have happened.
According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been 67 human cases of H5N1 bird flu reported in the U.S. since 2022.
The CDC reported the United States’ first-ever human case of H5N1 in April 2022. That person worked closely with sick birds as part of depopulation efforts and they recovered after a few days, the CDC said.
In early January 2025, a person in Louisiana who was hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms died, marking the first U.S. bird flu death. Health officials said the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems, and was in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.
QUESTION #2
Has bird flu spread between people in the U.S.?
THE ANSWER
There is no evidence of bird flu spreading from person-to-person in the U.S., health expertssay.
The CDC said in an update on Jan. 6, 2025, that “no person-to-person transmission…has been identified,” adding that the risk of the virus to the general public “remains low.”
Bird flu infections usually happen after someone has direct or close contact with infected animals, like birds or cattle, or surfaces contaminated by sick animals, public health officials in Wisconsin say. People can also breathe in the virus through droplets or dust in the air.
Bird flu viruses have spread between people outside of the U.S. in rare instances, but the spread has been limited to “close contacts,” the CDC says. There is no evidence of sustained, or ongoing, human-to-human spread of bird flu, according to the public health agency.
If the bird flu virus mutates in the future, it could “become highly transmissible and spread rapidly through the population,” Emily Landon, M.D., an infectious diseases expert at the University of Chicago Medicine, said.
QUESTION #3
Is there a bird flu vaccine for humans?
THE ANSWER
Scientists have developed a vaccine that fights against bird flu, but it isn’t available to the public since human disease and death in the U.S. have been rare so far.
The first version of the vaccine was officially approved in the U.S. in 2007. But like the normal seasonal flu, bird flu changes over time, so the vaccine would need to be updated with the current strain before it would be effective. Health officials haven’t deemed that necessary at this time.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) previously approved bird flu vaccines in 2007, 2013 and 2020. These versions were approved for use in people with increased risk of exposure to the virus, but were based on now-outdated strains, according to an article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in October 2024. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed the components necessary to quickly produce vaccines that could fight the current strain of bird flu.
It’s possible that an updated bird flu vaccine could soon be made available to some people who are most at risk of contracting the virus, such as farm workers or hunters, according to a University of Chicago Medicine article.
RELATED: Yes, there is a bird flu vaccine
QUESTION #4
Are there treatments for people infected with bird flu?
THE ANSWER
There are treatments for bird flu that differ based on a person’s symptoms, Mount Sinai Hospital explains.
If bird flu is identified early, it can be treated with antiviral medications that are commonly used to treat other influenza viruses. They include oseltamivir (Tamiflu), peramivir (Rapivab) and zanamivir (Relenza), according to the Cleveland Clinic.
A person in the U.S. who tested positive for H5N1 bird flu in 2024 was treated with an antiviral drug for flu, the CDC said.
People with severe bird flu infections may need to be placed on a breathing machine, Mount Sinai says.
QUESTION #5
Is it safe to eat eggs during the bird flu outbreak?
THE ANSWER
It is safe to eat eggs during the bird flu outbreak.
Federal agencies have “completed multiple studies to confirm that poultry and eggs that are properly prepared and cooked are safe to eat,” the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a press release on Jan. 17, 2025.
The chance of infected poultry or egg products entering the food chain is extremely low because of safeguards in place that prevent infected products from reaching store shelves, according to the USDA.
Fully cooking eggs further reduces the small chance of contracting any illness, including salmonella.
Darin Detwiler, an associate teaching professor of food policy at Northeastern University, told VERIFY that the chances of contracting bird flu from a properly cooked egg are “virtually nonexistent.”
The CDC says “properly cooked” or fully cooked eggs are eggs cooked to a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. That temperature kills bacteria or viruses, including bird flu. At that temperature, there is no runniness and the yolks are firm.
“Bottom line – It’s always wise to err on the side of caution. During an H5N1 outbreak, ensuring eggs are thoroughly cooked can minimize any risk, however small, of exposure to the virus,” Detwiler said.
QUESTION #6
Is it safe to drink milk during the bird flu outbreak?
THE ANSWER
Pasteurized milk that you buy at the grocery store is safe to drink during the bird flu outbreak.
That’s because pasteurization kills bacteria and viruses, like avian flu viruses, in milk, the CDC says. Pasteurization is the process of heating milk to a high enough temperature for a long enough time to kill harmful germs.
The FDA says its ongoing assessments “continue to confirm that pasteurization is effective at eliminating” the H5N1 bird flu virus in milk.
However, “there may be a risk of [bird flu] transmission” if a person consumes unpasteurized milk, according to a University of California Davis article.
The FDA and other health officials have long warned against consuming unpasteurized, or raw, milk because it can carry dangerous bacteria such as salmonella, E. coli, listeria and others that cause foodborne illness.
It is legal to sell raw milk “directly to consumers in some capacity” in about half of U.S. states, the CDC says.
In these states, a product may contain raw milk if the word “pasteurized” does not appear on its label, the FDA says.
“Where I tend to pay more attention is when I’m in the specialty cheese section,” Barbara Kowalcyk, a food safety expert and associate professor and director of the Food Policy Institute at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, told AARP. “Especially if they’re selling locally branded cheese, it could potentially contain raw milk.”
QUESTION #7
Can bird flu infect pets like cats and dogs?
THE ANSWER
Pets can contract bird flu through contact with infected poultry or carcasses, or from eating contaminated food. Since cooking and pasteurization kill viruses, food will not be contaminated unless it’s raw.
Veterinarians also advise people to keep their pets away from bird droppings that could infect animals with bird flu.
“Cats and dogs may become infected if they eat sick or dead infected birds, drink unpasteurized milk or cream from infected cows, or eat undercooked or raw meat, and there might be other ways the virus spreads,” the American Veterinary Medical Association says. “Although the likelihood of dogs catching avian influenza continues to be very low, several barn/feral cats have become severely ill from H5N1 infection since the outbreak in cattle began.”
Several fatal cases of bird flu in cats have been linked to raw frozen pet food and the consumption of raw milk, according to health officials in Oregon and California.
Food that has been properly cooked or pasteurized is safe to eat, even if it originated from an infected animal. That means the most common types of pet foods that are cooked and dried, such as kibble, are safe to feed your animals.
RELATED: Yes, pets can get bird flu from eating raw food
QUESTION #8
Has bird flu been declared a pandemic?
THE ANSWER
The World Health Organization declares when an outbreak of an infectious disease becomes a global pandemic, like COVID-19. It has not declared H5N1 a pandemic.
A pandemic is generally defined as “a disease outbreak that spans several countries and affects a large number of people,” the federal government’s ready.gov website says. Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health also explains that during a pandemic, a disease’s growth rate skyrockets and cases grow more each day.
While bird flu hasn’t been declared a pandemic yet, some scientists say the risk of one is rising since the virus is adapting to new hosts like cows and other mammals.
“If a version of bird flu had a gene mutation that allowed it to spread easily between people, it could cause a pandemic,” the Cleveland Clinic says.
But that hasn’t happened yet, and scientists don’t know if – or when – it will.
Emily Landon, M.D., an infectious diseases expert at the University of Chicago Medicine, said she doesn’t foresee the bird flu outbreak becoming a global health emergency. That’s because “unlike the early days of COVID-19, health officials know how to prevent the spread of influenza and can produce influenza vaccines more easily,” she said.
The Associated Press and VERIFY digital journalist Emery Winter contributed to this report.