Health experts urge America to control bird flu
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The United States must step up measures to contain the country’s bird flu outbreak and curb the threat of the virus spreading easily between humans, international health experts have warned.
As the H5N1 pathogen continues to infect cattle and chickens across the country, scientists are calling for increased vaccination of farm workers and more efforts to curb its spread among farm animals.
The outbreak is an early challenge for President Donald Trump’s administration, which is already ramping up its commitment to global efforts to control and prevent the disease.
Professor James Wood, an infectious disease expert at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, said: “It is extremely irresponsible for US authorities to allow such a sustained high level of virus transmission in dairy cattle.”
He added that restrictions such as strict cattle movements would “significantly reduce human exposure and should be maintained in all countries”.
As H5N1 has circulated in the US for more than nine months, experts have observed growing alarm. The epidemic caused 67 people are confirmed.Most commonly in people who work with cattle and poultry, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
of First death Although no cases of human-to-human transmission have yet been reported, it was reported this month.
Virologists fear that the H5N1 pathogen will rearrange its genetic material with another animal or human flu, which will create a new virus that can be transmitted between people. The likelihood of this condition increases as H5N1 circulates in the US during the winter flu season.
They were estimated at 12-22 million. Human flu cases Between October 1 and January 11, according to the CDC. On January 16, he urged hospitals to investigate within 24 hours Flu patients actually catch bird fluEspecially if patients were in intensive care. The CDC presented it in November Human flu vaccines For farm workers in 12 states.
He said the H5N1 threat to the public is low, but he is “monitoring this dynamic very closely.”
The World Organization for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization have said that governments should take several measures to prevent the spread of bird flu. These include strengthening virus testing, sharing sequences and data, improving farm biosecurity and protecting infected animals, said Maria van Kerkhove, the WHO’s top official.
“More can and must be done to reduce the spread of avian influenza between animals, different animal species and people,” said Van Kerkhove, Acting Director of Epidemic Prevention.
The World Health Organization has encouraged pharmaceutical companies to develop more widely used animal vaccines to reduce the spread of bird flu, Van Kerkhove added.
The three leading bird flu vaccines for humans – CSL Securius, Sanofi and GSK – are good for responding if the outbreak becomes a pandemic. In October, the three players signed a $72 million settlement with the US government, which includes a commitment to speed up distribution of quantities and maintain supply levels.
The US government on January 17 awarded 590mn to Moderna, which is developing a flu vaccine using the same messenger RNA-based technology as the Covid jab.
The Sekirus jab has been ordered by many European governments, but only Finland has confirmed that it will use the vaccine to vaccinate farm workers. The vaccine maker said the Nordic country is conducting its own independent study on safety and efficacy in Japan.
The U.S. response to bird flu has been further complicated by the “short pause” placed on media and public attention by the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies “not directly related to emergencies or critical to public health.”
The Health Department said the Trump administration initiated the pause “to prepare for a review and prioritization process.”
Trump and his allies are critical of fundamental aspects of global disease control, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, has long been a vaccine skeptic.
One of Trump’s first steps after taking office was to delay the process of withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization for a year. In the year He took similar action in 2020 during his previous term, but President Joe Biden reversed that decision when he took office in January 2021.
Data visualization by Bob Haslett