Bird flu updates: Six more cattle herds test positive
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Key takeaways:
- Six more cattle herds in the United States have tested positive for bird flu, bringing the total to 42.
- The CDC has asked jurisdictions to make PPE available to farm workers, prioritizing farms with bird flu.
Six more dairy cattle herds in the United States have tested positive for avian influenza, bringing the national total to 42 herds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The newly reported positive tests for H5N1 virus — also known as “bird flu” — came from dairy cattle herds in Colorado, Idaho and Michigan.
All three states had already reported infected cows, so the number of states with infected herds remains at nine.
Below are some other recent developments in the ongoing H5N1 outbreak.
CDC recommends PPE for workers
Last week, U.S. health officials announced the results of testing that showed pasteurized milk and beef products appear safe for consumption. The testing was conducted after traces of avian influenza were found in pasteurized milk.
Researchers also reported new details of a human case of H5N1 infection in a Texas dairy farm worker, including that the worker’s only symptom appeared to be conjunctivitis.
An analysis of samples collected from the worker showed that the virus has not adapted to spread among humans and should be susceptible to existing antivirals and H5N1 vaccines, according to the report, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Although the CDC and WHO continue to rate the risk that H5N1 poses to the public to be low, both have warned that people with close contact to infected birds or cows — such as dairy farm workers — are at an increased risk for infection.
Citing that risk, the CDC this week asked states to make personal protective equipment (PPE) available to dairy farm, poultry farm and slaughterhouse workers, prioritizing farms that have reported infected herds of cattle. States were asked to use existing stockpiles but were also briefed on how to request more PPE from the national stockpile, the CDC said.
According to a report published Friday by STAT, farms in affected states have thus far resisted offers for free PPE, although the report noted that some dairy farms in Texas have accepted protective gear.
‘Many more people have been exposed’
According to the CDC, since March, at least 220 people in the U.S. have been monitored for H5N1 symptoms, and at least 30 have been tested.
“However, many more people have been exposed to infected animals and it is important that all those exposed are tested or monitored and receive care if needed,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, said during a press briefing this week.
But there has been some pushback from states on that front, too, according to a report published this week by Politico.
Three state agriculture officials and two other unnamed sources said states opposed a plan floated by CDC to send federal teams to farms to monitor workers and collect other data, according to the report, which described concern among state agriculture officials that the federal response was interfering with state-level efforts already underway.
Healio checked in earlier this week with Jennifer B. Nuzzo, DrPH, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, to get her take on testing — we should be doing much more of it, she said — and other aspects of the U.S. response. You can read that interview here.
References:
- CDC. CDC A(H5N1) bird flu response update. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/spotlights/2023-2024/avian-situation-update-05032024.htm. Published May 3, 2024. Accessed May 10, 2024.
- CDC. H5N1 bird flu: Current situation summary. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/avian-flu-summary.htm. Updated May 9, 2024. Accessed May 10, 2024.
- Hill ML, et al. Politico. Published May 6, 2024. Accessed May 10, 2024. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/06/bird-flu-dairy-farms-cdc-00156119.
- Owermohle S. STAT. Published May 10, 2024. Accessed May 10, 2024. https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/10/bird-flu-virus-dairy-farmers-resist-ppe-recommendation.
- USDA. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detections in livestock. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/livestock. Last updated May 9, 2024. Accessed May 10, 2024.
- Uyeki TM, et al. N Engl J Med. 2024;doi:10.1056/NEJMc2405371.
- WHO. Virtual press conference on global health issues transcript – 8 May 2024. Published May 8, 2024. Accessed May 10, 2024.
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