2 New Articles Covering H5N1 in STAT This Morning
3-month review of effort to date and update on upcoming Michigan human serology study
For new readers or those who have paid the minimal subscription fee, STAT has 2 new articles this morning related to the dairy H5N1 outbreak response in the U.S.:
Three months into bird flu outbreak, deep problems in the response (statnews.com)
This is a rather long piece that summarizes many of the challenges multiple agencies face in characterizing and responding to this event. The content doesn’t plow much new ground but does a good job of pulling all the issues into a single summary.
This piece provides more detail on the developing serology study in farm workers underway by Michigan Department of Health and Human Services public health personnel. The study may help answer whether workers are being asymptomatically or mildly infected with H5N1 on dairy farms by occupational exposure. Monitoring of mild infections may be important in assessing risks for viral adaptation for zoonotic transmission.
However, one other article in the New York Times this morning is a good reminder that while this virus is a big enough threat to dairy and poultry herds, it is not yet ready to become a full-blown pandemic threat: COVID Changed how I Cover Bird Flu
We must watch the zoonotic implications, but agriculture’s plate is overflowing just coming to grips with how we will manage this virus. It may well become endemic in all cattle while remaining lethal to our poultry industries. Wishful thinking and lack of testing of beef cattle will not contain this virus within the dairy sector. We don’t have to respond in feedlots, but we should at least know if they are potential risk factors for area viral spread to nearby dairy and poultry operations. If non-dairy cattle are NOT infected, great! Let’s develop that evidence with strategic testing!
John