The worst avian influenza outbreak on record has now reached every continent, reshaping the economics of eggs and chicken far beyond the farms it strikes. The dominant strain, highly pathogenic H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, is circulating in wild birds, poultry and a growing list of mammals across six continents, with Australia confirming its first-ever detections in June 2026, according to Essfeed.
A Record Toll on Flocks and Prices
The economic damage has been heaviest in the United States, where repeated mass culling shrank the laying-hen flock and drove egg prices to their largest jump since 1980, with the average price of a dozen large eggs rising about 65 per cent in a single year, the same report noted. Nearly 200 million birds have been culled in the US since the outbreak began in 2022, and the virus returned to commercial flocks in a dozen states in 2026 after prices had only just eased, according to Tech Times.
Entrenched and Hard to Contain
The outbreak is no longer confined to North America. Poland saw more than a million birds culled in the opening weeks of 2026, and the virus was found in a Dutch dairy cow in January, its first appearance in cattle outside North America, according to Sentient. One virologist described the virus as completely out of control among wild animals, as reported by BBC Science Focus, because culling farmed flocks cannot remove the wild-bird reservoir that keeps reseeding them. France's decision to vaccinate its poultry cut outbreaks by 96 per cent over two years, Tech Times noted, a route most large producers have not taken.
Nigeria has fought its own H5N1 flare-ups, and a virus entrenched in global flyways keeps poultry and egg supplies under threat everywhere. FoodPrices Nigeria tracks verified retail prices for eggs and proteins across Lagos markets, where a worldwide animal disease turns up as a dearer source of protein.