“Avian influenza is a type of flu that circulates primarily in—you guessed it—birds. Migratory flocks carry the illness around the world and sicken other animals, particularly scavengers, that come into contact with infected feces or with dead birds. Bird flu often crops up on poultry farms, and this particular strain has affected almost 100 million birds in more than 1,000 flocks in 48 states since an outbreak of H5N1 was declared in February 2022. (It was this ongoing outbreak that temporarily sent the price of eggs to the moon in late 2022.) The sheer amount of disease in birds has been particularly high in recent months, leading to more sickened and dead fowl—and more opportunities for the virus to spread not only to more birds, but more species. That includes ...”