This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The End of the American Dream. 

Are we on the verge of another major public health crisis?  Will we soon see the return of lockdowns, shutdowns, testing, masks, and mandates?  Since 2022, the H5N1 bird flu has been causing chaos all over the globe.

According to NBC News, 123 million birds “have been killed or euthanized” in the United States, and a new wave of the outbreak has arrived this winter with a vengeance.  That is one of the primary reasons why eggs are now so expensive all over the country.  Unfortunately, the H5N1 bird flu is also spreading like wildfire among dairy cows.  This month it is ripping through hundreds of dairy herds in the state of California, and as a result,t a state of emergency has just been declared…

California has declared a state of emergency for H5N1 bird flu amid fears that the virus could jump to people and start to spread.

The move comes in response to a major outbreak of the virus among the state’s cattle which has spilled over and infected dozens of dairy workers.

What we are witnessing in California right now is truly alarming.

So far, 645 dairy herds have been affected as bird flu roars across the state.

Almost half of those dairy herds have been hit just within the past 30 days…

California has identified H5N1 in 645 dairy herds since its first detection in late August and nearly half of those were reported in the past 30 days, highlighting the rapid spread of the virus.

Thirty-four of the US’ 61 human bird flu cases have also been in California.

This is a really big deal.

In a previous article, I discussed the fact that piles of dead cows have been spotted “stacked along roadsides rotting in the heat” in rural parts of the state…

A dystopian scene is emerging in California as dairy farmers battle a ruthless disease.

Dead cows and calves stacked along roadsides rotting in the heat surrounded by crows, vultures and thick swarms of black flies.

After wiping out tens of millions of birds worldwide, the H5N1 avian flu is tearing through dairy farms in the US.

When it was just birds that were dropping dead, most people were not too concerned.

But dairy cows are mammals just like us.

And now dozens of humans are getting infected.

In fact, the very first “severe” human case of H5N1 has been confirmed in the state of Louisiana.  The following comes from the official CDC website…

A patient has been hospitalized with a severe case of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus (“H5N1 bird flu”) infection in Louisiana. This marks the first instance of severe illness linked to the virus in the United States. The case was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, December 13. Since April 2024, there have been a total of 61 reported human cases of H5 bird flu reported in the United States.

Partial viral genome data of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that infected the patient in Louisiana indicates that the virus belongs to the D1.1 genotype related to other D1.1 viruses recently detected in wild birds and poultry in the United States and in recent human cases in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington state. This H5N1 bird flu genotype is different than the B3.13 genotype detected in dairy cows, sporadic human cases in multiple states, and some poultry outbreaks in the United States. Additional genomic sequencing and efforts to isolate virus from clinical specimens from the patient in Louisiana are underway at CDC.

We aren’t being told much about the victim other than the fact that this particular individual is “currently hospitalized in critical condition”…

“The patient is experiencing severe respiratory illness related to H5N1 infection and is currently hospitalized in critical condition,” said Emma Herrock, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Health.

Of course this wasn’t the first such case in North America.

Last month, a teenager in Canada had to be hospitalized after getting infected with the bird flu…

A teenager in British Columbia was hospitalized in November after contracting the same genotype of the bird flu virus. Canadian health officials were not able to determine the source of the teen’s infection.

“What this illustrates is people can get really sick from bird flu, and to me it’s related to the case in British Columbia,” Chin-Hong said. “These patients are both united by the same variant.”

So what is going to happen if there are more “severe” cases in the news and people start dropping dead?

What kind of panic will that create?

As we saw a few years ago, once the media starts spreading panic about a health crisis our society can be completely and utterly turned upside down.

We are being told that the symptoms of H5N1 bird flu are very similar to symptoms of normal seasonal flu…

Two human cases reported earlier this year in the US only experienced conjunctivitis. Those cases occurred in Texas and in Michigan, and were both in farmworkers who had come into contact with infected cows.

Other symptoms that have been reported are mild flu-like upper respiratory symptoms, pneumonia requiring hospitalization, and a high temperature of over 100ºF.

Milder symptoms include a cough, sore throat, a runny or stuff nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.

If this thing starts spreading widely, it will be very difficult to determine who has it and who doesn’t have it.

Hopefully we still have more time before the next great global health scare arrives.

But one thing is clear – the bird flu is not going away any time soon.  In fact, it just keeps hammering locations from coast to coast.  Here is one of the latest examples…

More than 100,000 birds — nearly all of them chickens — have been killed at a Cullman County commercial broiler farm and a backyard flock in Pickens County after highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was confirmed at the two sites, the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries said Monday.

Samples from the flocks were tested and confirmed positive at the Alabama State Diagnostic Laboratory in Auburn.

I have been watching the H5N1 bird flu for a long time.  First it was killing chickens and turkeys, then it started killing other mammals, and now humans are getting infected.

I honestly do not know how this thing is going to play out.

But we all saw what panic of a disease did to our society earlier this decade, and none of us is eager to see that happen again.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.