The supply chain takes yet another hit. As a "highly pathogenic avian influenza" decimates the American chicken supply, one can't help but wonder how the food supply chain will be affected.

Break out your 2022 apocalypse bingo cards. Now, we can check off the slot for "highly pathogenic avian influenza" (HPAI, for short). We haven't even finished a quarter of this year, and we've already checked off "potential WW3," "high gas prices," "potential nuclear war," "incoming hyperinflation," and "globe dropping the dollar as a reserve currency."

We may as well add yet another strike against the American food supply chain, right?

What's making these birds sick?

As of right now, at least twelve different states within the US have reported outbreaks of H5N1. Virtually the entire Eastern seaboard has reported cases, and much of the Midwest has as well. Anytime that a farm is found to have a single case, it's being reported that the current policy is for every single bird on the farm to be culled. We're currently seeing the exact same strain of H5N1 popping up all over the country right now.

No human cases have been reported in the US at this time, and bird-to-human transmission is said to be incredibly rare for this particular illness. If we look back to 1997, we do see a 50% death rate in human cases, but I personally am of the belief that this human transmission isn't something to worry about. I believe a larger concern is what this epidemic is going to mean for the American food supply.