Challenges continue for small businesses trying to attract customers.

For Shannon Trevino, owner of the pastry shop Shannon’s Sweets in Weslaco, the price of eggs has been an issue.

“We've noticed from week to week, sometimes even day to day, the prices have gone up,” Trevino said. “For the most part, [customers have] been understanding if the prices fluctuate at all, but we do kind of just eat the cost if the prices are up a little bit."

Food vendors like Trevino are being affected by the continued avian influenza outbreak that has reached poultry producers around the country.

It's halted operations, and is driving up prices.

The potential carriers of avian influenza are in the wild bird population.

Karl Berg's is researching bird behavior at UTRGV’s Brownsville campus. He says one problem with the spread of avian influenza is their social habits.

READ MORE: UTRGV specialist cautions after Avian Flu human case reported in Texas

“The highly social behavior of birds can make for a perfect storm for disease transmission because they're interacting in large groups, and they're going off and interacting with other groups,” Berg said.

On top of that, birds migrate, and many converge around the coastal bend as they fly north and south over the seasons.

Avian influenza has not been detected in the Rio Grande Valley. The closest cases were detected in swans near Corpus Christi in October 2023.

Epidemiologist Dr. Jose Campo Maldonado is monitoring the spread of the disease to other species, saying he’s looking for new research on the ability for the virus to spread among cattle.

RELATED STORY: First human case of bird flu in Texas detected after contact with infected dairy cattle

In the meantime, small business owners like Trevino are just hoping for happy customers.

“We'd like to get it back to where everybody is comfortable enough to where you can enjoy the little things in life,” Trevino said.

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