Highly pathogenic avian in­­­­fluenza (HPAI) was re­­­­cently identified in a South Carolina turkey flock, the U.S. Department of Agriculture an­­nounced last week.

This is the first U.S. outbreak of HPAI since 2017 and comes at a  time when consumers had already experienced higher than average egg prices due to a spike in demand after the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), “it appears this HPAI strain mutated from a low pathogenic strain that has been found in poultry in that area...