RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Turkeys may have more to worry about than getting stuffed this Thanksgiving... health professionals are monitoring a multi-state outbreak of bird flu. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, avian influenza — or bird flu — has killed more than 100 million birds across the country since 2022. The CDC recently reported 55 human cases of this highly contagious airborne virus so far this year, but human transmission is rare. Rare or not, that doesn't protect us from the disease's economic impact. 8News spoke with UVA Health Infectious Disease expert Dr. Patrick Jackson. "You might want to look into your holiday baking options," Jackson said. Believe it or not, it's not the price of the big bird on your Thanksgiving table that's going to be hit the most by the bird flu. Hobey Bauhan -- President of the Virginia Poultry Federation -- told 8News that, despite the heavy load of cases on the national scale, consumers have plenty of options for their main courses. "There's an ample supply of turkeys in the grocery store," Bauhan assured. "And the good news for consumers this year is the prices are down about 6% at the retail level." So eat all the turkey you want next week. While wild turkeys have caught the disease, experts told 8News that domestic turkeys haven't been substantially impacted. Jackson cautioned that — at this point — there are some other dishes you may need to ration. "What I think you would expect for the holidays is the price of eggs might not be fantastic," Jackson predicted based on his research regarding case distribution. "There is quite a bit, unfortunately, of bird flu in commercial egg-laying flocks and things like that happening right now." According to the Virginia Poultry Federation, Virginia's poultry industry stimulates more than $13 billion in state economic activity. Fortunately, Virginia hasn't had an outbreak since 2023 and Bauhan said agricultural leaders across the state plan to keep it that way. "The CDC considers the risk to the general population very low," Bauhan explained. "The key to preventing and controlling the spread of avian influenza is for anybody that's involved with poultry, whether it's a backyard flock owner or a commercial farmer, to practice biosecurity." According to authorities, if turkey or chicken flocks used for meat contract the flu, they would not go into the food supply, so people are not at any consumption-related health risks. Unfortunately, the entire flock would be de-populated, or killed off, if even one bird catches the virus, so that's where the supply issues come into play and poultry prices could be inflated.