With the first human death from bird flu now logged in the US, health officials have their fingers crossed that it doesn't become a major public-health issue. But H5N1 is already wreaking havoc on poultry flocks and causing an egg shortage that's driving up the cost at the grocery store.

The average price of a dozen large eggs starkly increased in California in December to $8.97, up from $5.68 in late November, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

The cost of eggs in California has jumped nearly 70% in the past month, reaching $8.97 for a dozen. The price hike, highlighted in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s December egg markets report, owes largely to a series of highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks that have decimated the state’s poultry flocks.