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USA Today
03-05-2025
- Health
- USA Today
What is H5N1? Experts warn virus spreading across US, fears of new pandemic
What is H5N1? Experts warn virus spreading across US, fears of new pandemic Show Caption Hide Caption Are we ready for a bird flu pandemic? There's a growing body of evidence that suggests people may have asymptomatic bird flu infections. Experts warn about the possibility of a new pandemic in 2025 as bird flu spreads across all 50 states, impacting American dairy and poultry farms with dozens of people infected. Here's what to know. Bird flu, also known as H5N1, has been around for decades. But the discovery in 2024 that the virus spread from wild birds to cows came as a surprise to public health experts, according to officials. In just over a year, the virus has ravaged America's dairy herds and poultry flocks and has infected humans − sometimes causing death. The Global Virus Network (GVN), a nonprofit coalition of virologists, has issued warnings to governments to address the threat of the H5N1 outbreak by improving surveillance, implementing biosecurity measures, and preparing for potential human-to-human transmission. "Understanding the current landscape of H5N1 infections is critical for effective prevention and response," said Dr. Sten H. Vermund, chief medical officer of the GVN and an infectious disease epidemiologist. "The virus' ability to infect both animals and humans, combined with recent genetic changes, underscores the importance of proactive surveillance and rapid response measures.' How much has bird flu spread? In the United States, the outbreak has affected over 1,000 dairy herds across 17 states, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. It has caused the loss or culling in commercial and backyard poultry flocks of more than 169 million birds since 2022, USDA said. Federal health officials have identified 70 people in the United States infected, mostly among dairy and poultry workers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person, an older Louisiana resident with underlying medical issues, died in January, becoming the first American death from bird flu. The strain of bird flu the Louisiana resident had, known as D1.1, has been known to cause severe illness in humans. Bird flu has shown to be concerning elsewhere in North America. In early April 2024, Mexican officials confirmed the country's first bird flu death in a 3-year-old girl. In November 2024, Canadian officials identified a 13-year-old girl who became severely ill with the D1.1 strain and had to be intubated. 'In the U.S. sporadic human infections with no known contact with infected animals highlight the possibility of viral adaptation for efficient human-to-human transmission,' GVN scientists said in a report. 'Concurrently, the virus continues to circulate in wild birds, backyard flocks, and hunted migratory species, further amplifying the risk to humans and domestic animals.' Dr. Kay Russo, a veterinarian, warned in an interview that time to stop the bird flu is 'running out.' She told CBS News that while it's not clear how the virus was spreading from cow to cow, 'milking equipment is a prime suspect' and workers in milking parlors have also fallen sick with flu-like symptoms. Infectious disease physician Dr. Kamran Khan said in the same interview, that his company, BlueDot, was among the first to flag the virus in China that became the COVID pandemic. He said 'the bird flu is just as concerning' and explained how fast the virus has spread among dairy cattle. What is H5N1? H5N1, also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, is a specific strain of influenza A virus. Bird flu is a highly contagious respiratory disease that primarily affects birds, but can also infect other animals, including mammals like dairy cows and humans. Chickens are highly susceptible to illness and death, while cows appear to recover. Humans have often had mild symptoms, though a few cases have caused serious illness. Experts have warned that if the virus continues to spread across species, it increases the likelihood of becoming more transmissible to humans and causing more severe illness. What are the symptoms of H5N1 infection in humans? The symptoms of H5N1 infection may include fever (often high fever, over 100.4 degrees) and malaise, cough, sore throat and muscle aches. Other early symptoms may include conjunctivitis and other non-respiratory symptoms. The infection may progress quickly to severe respiratory illness, pneumonia and neurologic changes (altered mental status or seizures), according to the World Health Organization. Eduardo Cuevas of USA TODAY contributed to this report.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mexican child infected with H5N1 bird flu dies from respiratory complications
A 3-year-old girl in Mexico died this month after getting infected with H5N1 bird flu, according to a report issued by the World Health Organization this week. Authorities say the strain of bird flu is one that has been circulating in wild birds throughout North America, known as D1.1. It is the same strain implicated in the death of a person in Louisiana earlier this year, and in the case of a 13-year-old Canadian who was placed on life-support for several weeks before recovering. Two others, a person in Wyoming and a poultry worker in Ohio, were also reported to have severe disease after exposure to this strain of the virus. The strain has been detected in dairy herds from Nevada and Arizona. "The case in Mexico is another great reminder of how dangerous H5 viruses can be," said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The D1.1 strain is widespread in the U.S. and Canada, but until this week's WHO report it was unclear how far south the strain had traveled, he said. "It has been a very active virus to date," he said, and "further spread will undoubtedly lead to more infections, both in birds and humans. " He said researchers are now awaiting publication of the genetic sequence, which will provide more information about whether there have been further changes that could make it more severe and/or transmissible. According to the WHO, the young girl's symptoms, which included fever, malaise and vomiting, began on March 7. She was admitted to a hospital in the state of Durango on March 13 due to respiratory failure. She was treated with oseltamivir, an antiviral drug, the following day. On March 16, she transferred to another hospital in the city of Torreón. She died on April 8 from "respiratory complications." The girl did not have any underlying medical conditions, had not received a seasonal influenza vaccination, and had no history of travel, according to the WHO report. The source of the child's infection remains under investigation. According to the report, 91 people were identified as contacts of the toddler, including 21 household contacts, 60 healthcare workers and 10 people from a childcare center. Each of these people was tested and all have tested negative for the virus. Between 2022 and August 2024, there have been 75 reported H5N1 poultry outbreaks across Mexico, although none in Durango. At the end of January 2025, a sick vulture at the Sahuatoba Zoo, in Durango, was diagnosed with the virus. In addition, dozens of wild birds in the state were also reported, including a Canada goose. The virus is still circulating in U.S. dairy herds, poultry, wild birds and wild mammals. Since April 1, there have been five new reports of infected dairy herds from California, 15 in Idaho and one from Arizona, according to the US Department of Agriculture. There have also been dozens of domestic cats infected with the virus, including three recent reports from California's Orange and Alameda counties: two in Orange and one in Alameda. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 70 reported cases of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. since March 2024, when the virus was first reported in dairy herds. There has been one death, a person older than 65 from Louisiana. Health officials say the risk of H5N1 bird flu to the general public remains low and there has been no indication of person-to-person spread. Most cases have been associated with contact with infected livestock and poultry. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
18-04-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
Mexican child infected with H5N1 bird flu dies from respiratory complications
A 3-year-old girl in Mexico died this month after getting infected with H5N1 bird flu, according to a report issued by the World Health Organization this week. Authorities say the strain of bird flu is one that has been circulating in wild birds throughout North America, known as D1.1. It is the same strain implicated in the death of a person in Louisiana earlier this year, and in the case of a 13-year-old Canadian who was placed on life-support for several weeks before recovering. Two others, a person in Wyoming and a poultry worker in Ohio, were also reported to have severe disease after exposure to this strain of the virus. The strain has been detected in dairy herds from Nevada and Arizona. 'The case in Mexico is another great reminder of how dangerous H5 viruses can be,' said Richard Webby, an infectious disease expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The D1.1 strain is widespread in the U.S. and Canada, but until this week's WHO report it was unclear how far south the strain had traveled, he said. 'It has been a very active virus to date,' he said, and 'further spread will undoubtedly lead to more infections, both in birds and humans. ' He said researchers are now awaiting publication of the genetic sequence, which will provide more information about whether there have been further changes that could make it more severe and/or transmissible. According to the WHO, the young girl's symptoms, which included fever, malaise and vomiting, began on March 7. She was admitted to a hospital in the state of Durango on March 13 due to respiratory failure. She was treated with oseltamivir, an antiviral drug, the following day. On March 16, she transferred to another hospital in the city of Torreón. She died on April 8 from 'respiratory complications.' The girl did not have any underlying medical conditions, had not received a seasonal influenza vaccination, and had no history of travel, according to the WHO report. The source of the child's infection remains under investigation. According to the report, 91 people were identified as contacts of the toddler, including 21 household contacts, 60 healthcare workers and 10 people from a childcare center. Each of these people was tested and all have tested negative for the virus. Between 2022 and August 2024, there have been 75 reported H5N1 poultry outbreaks across Mexico, although none in Durango. At the end of January 2025, a sick vulture at the Sahuatoba Zoo, in Durango, was diagnosed with the virus. In addition, dozens of wild birds in the state were also reported, including a Canada goose. The virus is still circulating in U.S. dairy herds, poultry, wild birds and wild mammals. Since April 1, there have been five new reports of infected dairy herds from California, 15 in Idaho and one from Arizona, according to the US Department of Agriculture. There have also been dozens of domestic cats infected with the virus, including three recent reports from California's Orange and Alameda counties: two in Orange and one in Alameda. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been 70 reported cases of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. since March 2024, when the virus was first reported in dairy herds. There has been one death, a person older than 65 from Louisiana. Health officials say the risk of H5N1 bird flu to the general public remains low and there has been no indication of person-to-person spread. Most cases have been associated with contact with infected livestock and poultry.
CNN
14-03-2025
- Health
- CNN
H5N1 bird flu virus is stable and infectious in raw milk cheese for months, study shows
Raw cheese made with milk from dairy cattle infected with bird flu can harbor infectious virus for months and may be a risk to public health, according to a new study from researchers at Cornell University that was funded by the US Food and Drug Administration. Raw milk cheeses are those made with milk that hasn't been heat-treated, or pasteurized, to kill germs. Although federal law prohibits the sale of raw milk across state lines, sales of raw milk cheese are legal nationwide as long as it's aged at least 60 days before landing on store shelves. This requirement, which has been in place since 1949, is thought to cut the risk of contamination, since it allows development of natural acids and enzymes, which were believed to kill off pathogens. The new study shows that this aging process may not inactivate the H5N1 virus, however, and it underscores the risk of consuming raw or undercooked foods during the bird flu outbreak, which continues to infect dairy cattle, poultry and a growing number of other animal species. The same group of researchers previously found that H5N1 virus remained infectious in refrigerated raw milk for up to eight weeks. Dr. Diego Diel, who led the study, says he thinks the virus may be so stable in milk and cheese because it's protected by the complex matrix of molecules around it. 'The protein and fat content in the cheese and milk provide a good environment for the virus to survive at refrigeration temperature,' said Diel, an associate professor of virology at Cornell. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, has said food doesn't pose a bird flu risk. 'The disease is not passed through food, so you cannot get it – as far as we know, you cannot get it from an egg or milk or meat from an infected animal,' Kennedy told Fox News in an interview that aired Tuesday. But that's only partly true. Cats and other animals have been infected by raw cow's milk and raw pet food, and there have been at least three confirmed human infections in which investigators were unable to determine the source of the person's exposure to the H5N1 virus. There have been no confirmed reports of people getting sick from eating or drinking bird-flu contaminated foods, including raw milk cheese, but dairy workers have been infected by getting splashed with raw milk in their faces or eyes. It's still not entirely clear whether humans can be infected by eating or drinking contaminated food, Diel said, noting that his study wasn't really designed to answer that question. 'I do think it is possible. There is a risk of infection,' he said. 'It obviously depends on the dose, how much of that contaminated product is ingested.' It may also depend on the strain of virus in the milk or cheese. Diel and his team tested the stability of the B3.13 virus, which originally infected cattle in the US in March 2024. B3.13 has caused only mild disease in people. However, a new strain, D1.1, which has been associated with some severe human cases, has also crossed into cattle, further increasing the risk. For the study, the researchers made mini cheeses with milk they spiked with H5N1 virus. They made these cheeses at three pH levels: 6.6, 5.8 and the most acidic formula, 5.0. The researchers then tested the cheeses over time to see whether any virus capable of infecting cells remained. They injected samples into fertilized chicken eggs, considered the gold standard test. Levels of the virus remained high for the first seven days after the cheese was made and then dropped a bit in the cheeses produced at pH levels 6.6 and 5.8. But importantly, the virus remained infectious for the full two-month aging period, showing that it was remarkably stable in the cheese over a long period. Those results were confirmed by some real-world examples. The researchers tested samples of raw milk cheese from a farm that had inadvertently produced them with milk from cows infected with bird flu. These findings also showed that levels of virus stayed high and remained infectious over the full two months of aging. 'Our study demonstrates that HPAI H5N1 virus exhibits remarkable stability throughout the cheese making process,' the authors wrote in their preprint study, posted ahead of peer review Friday. However, the study suggested that making raw milk cheese more acidic may kill the virus and make the cheese safer to eat. No live virus was detected in the cheese produced at the lowest pH, 5.0. Prior studies have also shown that common pasteurization methods inactivate the virus. Experts said the new study was consistent with tests of the stability of the virus in milk. 'We have also observed that milk can change the pH needed to inactivate the virus,' said Dr. Seema Lakdawala, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Emory University, who has been studying the transmission of H5N1. 'We and others have repeatedly observed that milk will prevent the degradation of the virus on surfaces, and it increases the pH stability, such that a much lower pH than normal is needed to inactivate the virus,' said Lakdawala, who was not involved in the new study. The FDA posted the findings of the study Friday along with preliminary results from its own ongoing sampling study of raw cheese. The FDA sampling study, which was announced in December, has tested 110 cheese samples taken from store shelves across the country. So far, 96 of those samples were negative by polymerase chain reaction testing, or PCR, which detects live virus as well as inactive viral particles, indicating that those cheeses probably weren't made with contaminated milk. The results from the remaining 14 samples are pending, the agency said. 'The FDA is continuing to work with Federal and state partners to address the ongoing outbreak of HPAI A (H5N1) in dairy cattle. The FDA has sampled a total of 464 pasteurized dairy products, including milk cheese butter and ice cream, all were negative for viable H5N1. In addition, multiple research studies have confirmed that pasteurization inactivates the virus,' the statement said. Still, experts say the study is a good reminder of the importance of surveillance – and of not consuming raw milk products. 'This is another reason we should push to ensure there is no bird flu in milk products and only consume pasteurized dairy products,' Lakdawala said.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The Bird Flu Could Be Way Worse Than We Know, According to Experts
On February 19, Tulane University reported that a new variant of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, also known as bird flu, was found in cows and a dairy worker. But that's not the only bad news. Scientists have also detected bird flu in three veterinarians working with cattle, which may signal a change in the way the virus is spreading. According to the university, three veterinarians working with cattle have tested positive for bird flu without presenting any symptoms. In a separate statement, the American Veterinary Medical Association said a study found that "Among 150 practitioners tested, three had evidence of recent infection with H5N1, including two who hadn't been exposed to animals confirmed or suspected to have H5N1 infections." One of those infected vets didn't even practice in a state with a confirmed H5N1 case. Sarah Michaels, an infectious disease expert at Tulane University's Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, says this study and others could indicate that the virus is far more widespread than we thought. Related: Is It Safe to Eat Eggs During a Bird Flu Outbreak? Here's What to Know 'It will be difficult to contain,' Michaels said. 'Recent screenings and the national milk testing program have shown that bird flu has spilled over from wild birds to cattle more than once. And this report of infections in three veterinarians highlights the importance of rapidly identifying infected dairy cattle, continued testing of bulk milk, and monitoring human infections among those at increased risk.' As for the new strain, it's known as the D1.1 variant, which Tulane explained had only been previously found in wild birds and some domestic poultry. However, now, it's not only been found in cattle but also in a Nevada dairy worker, marking the third known human case involving the variant. This follows two other high-profile cases with D1.1, including the death of a Louisiana farmer who contracted it from his backyard flock and a teenager in Canada who was hospitalized but later recovered. And now that that are two types of the virus out there, experts say it will be hard to both track and contain the spread. 'It's endemic in cows now. There is no way this is going to get contained,' Seema Lakdawala, an influenza virologist and co-director of the Center for Transmission of Airborne Pathogens at Emory School of Medicine, shared with The Guardian. Adding fuel to the fire is the absolutely rampant spread of the flu in humans this winter. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that there have been "at least 33 million illnesses, 430,000 hospitalizations, and 19,000 deaths from flu so far this season," marking one of the worst flu seasons in over a decade. 'There's a lot of flu going around, and so the potential for the virus to reassort right now is high,' Lakdawala additionally told The Guardian, noting there is the possibility of "reassortment" in animals. While all this is really great, things could be worse than we know, as the Trump administration has halted communication with the World Health Organization, which is no longer receiving updates on either human flu or avian influenza. The administration has also halted the CDC's weekly report on bird human cases in the U.S.: 70Deaths: 1States with confirmed cases in animals or humans: 13Sates with outbreaks in cattle: 16Number of birds affected in last 30 days: 18.91 million'There's no way Americans can protect themselves from bird flu unless the Trump administration stops recklessly withholding the latest information on where and how it's spreading,' Hannah Connor, deputy environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity, shared in a letter co-signed by 28 public interest groups. 'The most effective way to slow an outbreak of this magnitude is to routinely keep us all well informed. The Trump administration's withholding of those details puts us at the mercy of the virus.' As for what you can do to protect yourself, Michaels noted that 'Eggs and meat should be cooked thoroughly, and people should refrain from drinking raw milk." Emily Landon, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Chicago Medicine, echoed this sentiment in her own university's statement, noting that while the risk to humans remains is low, it's still important to stay vigilant. 'The highest risk to most people would be through contaminated dairy products,' Landon noted. So, for now, it's best to avoid raw milk and unpasteurized cheese. This also goes for your pets. As always, you should avoid contact with infected animals and wash your hands frequently if you do come in contact with any farm animals. The CDC also noted if you do consume meat, you need to cook it at proper temperatures — including cooking poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165˚F — to effectively kill any viruses. Related: Egg Prices Skyrocket as Avian Flu and New Cage-Free Laws Reshape the Industry And all the experts agreed that if you haven't received a flu shot this year, you should consider getting one for yourself or the kids in your life. 'Many cases are among children, and fewer children are getting vaccinated against the flu compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic,' Michaels added. 'It's not too late to get a flu shot, and while it won't protect against bird flu, it does provide important protection against seasonal influenza. Read the original article on Food & Wine
