- The H5N1 bird flu virus spreads for the first time in American cattle herds.
- Mammalian-to-mammal transmission has scientists concerned that the virus could mutate to spread between humans.
- Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams fears the United States will make the mistakes of 2020 again.
The bird flu is unleashed. In recent months, the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has spread among U.S. cattle herds for the first time.
Cow-to-cow transmission is the latest escalation in a global epidemic that began when the virus re-emerged in Europe in 2020. It has since killed tens of millions of birds and more than 40,000 sea lions and seals in South America. South.
On April 18, Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist of the World Health Organization, called the situation an “animal pandemic.”
Genetic fragments of the virus, discovered Tuesday in grocery store milk, suggest the bovine outbreak is more widespread than authorities thought, the Washington Post reported.
Experts told the Post that drinking pasteurized milk is probably still safe. Pasteurization inactivates pathogens, likely including H5N1, according to the Food and Drug Administration. However, no studies have specifically tested whether milk pasteurization deactivates H5N1. According to the New York Times, the FDA is currently testing this.
A cow looks up from her food at the Johann Dairy farm in Fresno, California. Nathan Frandino/Reuters
In Texas, a human tested positive for the virus after exposure to dairy cattle. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this person’s only symptom was redness of the eyes.
There has been no known human-to-human transmission. However, a future mutation could allow the virus to spread more easily between humans – a possibility that causes “great concern” for Farrar.
Bill Powers with his flock of white turkeys, kept under shelter to avoid exposure to avian flu, in Townsend, Delaware. Nathan Howard/Getty Images
Dr. Jerome Adams, former surgeon general and director of health equity at Purdue University, has a feeling of déjà vu.
“If the virus continues to spread among animals, it will eventually cause problems for humans, either because we don’t have food because they have to start exterminating the herds, or because it starts to make a leap in humans,” Adams said. , who served under former President Donald Trump and was part of the administration’s first COVID-19 task force, told Business Insider. “The more it replicates, the more likely it is to mutate.”
Although he agrees with the CDC’s assessment that the current risk to humans is low, Adams worries that the United States will repeat many of the mistakes it made in the early days of COVID-19.
Weak message without clear leaders
Who is responsible for an animal pandemic in the United States? The CDC? The US Department of Agriculture? The FDA?
The answer is, sort of, all of them. This decentralized responsibility may be to blame for the lack of clear and widespread public messaging to date.
For example, Adams says he hasn’t changed anything in his diet, since pasteurization and proper cooking procedures should kill any live virus present. But it is not certain that everyone understands the message.
He compared it to the development of COVID-19 vaccines, when people were wary of a process they didn’t understand.
A grocery store worker stocks cartons of eggs at a market in Sonoma County, Calif., where bird flu infections have led to the closure of a group of egg farms in recent months. Terry Chea/AP Photo
“The public needs good, consistent communication from the White House and USDA that helps reassure them about the process to keep them safe,” Adams said.
Rather than consumers, those most at risk are agricultural workers or anyone who has had close or prolonged exposure to chickens or livestock. These are the groups that need strong, targeted guidance right now, Adams said.
Only test the sick
Until now, the USDA has only tested cattle herds when an animal appeared sick. This means that asymptomatic spread could go unnoticed.
“An animal can’t tell you, ‘Hey, I’m feeling a little bad today.’ So they’re literally waiting for an animal to collapse, show fatigue or show severe symptoms,” Adams said. “We need a testing strategy that is proactive and allows for real monitoring, not reactive.”
The USDA took a step forward Wednesday, ordering that all lactating dairy cows be tested for H5N1 before crossing state lines and that all positive test results be reported.
New York Times columnist Zeynep Tufekci reported the same day that, until now, the USDA had not tracked positive test results in cattle.
Election distraction
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference after leaving the second day of his defamation trial involving E. Jean Carroll. Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, the big news was the impeachment, then acquittal, of President Trump. Today, another Trump trial is dominating the news.
And like 2020, it’s an election year.
“The Biden administration, especially the White House, has been incredibly silent on the bird flu situation. Why? To me it seems like they absolutely do not want to scare the public and scare the economy over the course of an election year,” Adams said. said.
Business vs. public health
Just as COVID-19 lockdowns have been devastating to the restaurant and hospitality industries, the suppression of avian flu can be devastating to the chicken industry.
The treatment for a bird flu outbreak is to kill all the chickens. Even before that, just testing the herd can slow down production.
“We see the same tension between business interests and public health interests,” Adams said.
Additionally, many of the workers who tend the chickens and livestock are undocumented immigrants. This can make them and their bosses reluctant to call authorities for sick animals.
Many vulnerable groups were also reluctant to report their illness at the start of the pandemic, including migrant workers and people who did not benefit from sick leave.
“What concerns me is that we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again,” Adams said. “Because we continue to focus on the wrong things instead of focusing on the root causes.”
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