PARIS, France: Europe and North America are confronting an early and unusually intense wave of bird flu, with outbreaks spreading across wild bird populations and commercial poultry farms weeks ahead of typical seasonal patterns, raising fears of renewed supply disruptions and culling.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has already led to the destruction of hundreds of millions of farmed birds in recent years, contributing to food price increases. Human cases remain rare.
While infections usually climb in autumn as migratory birds move south, this season's cases have appeared earlier and in greater numbers across both regions.
In the United States, 107 outbreaks were reported by November 18 — nearly four times last year's total. Minnesota, the top U.S. turkey producer, confirmed its first case two months earlier than in 2022.
"It's certainly more than we've seen over the last few winter-fall migratory bird seasons," said Tim Boring, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. "I think it's part of this ongoing pattern... we're still well within this current outbreak that's lasted several years now."
About eight million U.S. birds have been culled since September, slightly above last year's level, government data shows.
Canada, with a smaller poultry flock, has also culled close to eight million birds. Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald called the situation "very worrisome".
"Wild birds seem to be carrying more of this disease. So it's scary in some ways," he told Reuters.
The World Organization for Animal Health said the early uptick is concerning but not cause for alarm.
"There should not be a public health alarm. An increase in the number of cases could have different explanations. What we need to observe is the actual virus itself," said Gregorio Torres, head of WOAH's scientific department.
Europe is also seeing more severe activity than last year, with Germany recording its highest number of outbreaks in three years. Between early September and mid-November, 1,443 cases were found in wild birds across 26 European countries, four times as many as during the same period in 2024 and the most since 2016, according to the European Food Safety Authority.
"What's new this season? It's not the same birds that are being affected," said ANSES Deputy Director General Gilles Salvat. "This time, we've seen contamination occur earlier among wild birds, and now we're starting to detect cases that are spreading to farmed birds."
Salvat said common cranes, early migrators, played a significant role in the outbreak's spread from northeast to southwest Europe, with heavy fatalities reported in Germany and France.
France placed its poultry industry on high alert in October, weeks earlier than in past years.
Asia has seen a more typical pattern overall, though Cambodia has faced severe outbreaks. Japan reported its first case on October 22, five days later than last year, and has culled about 1.65 million birds so far.
