How US health authorities are responding to bird flu in humans after the second case

US health authorities are monitoring and preparing for the fight Bird flu in humans, although they stress that the danger to most of the people stays low.

A strain of bird flu called H5N1 has been confirmed in Dairy cows in nine US states and in two humansamid a worldwide outbreak in poultry and other animals. The latest case was A employee at a dairy farm in Michigan announced on Wednesday. Child in Australia He, too, had recently been infected with bird flu, the country announced on Tuesday.

H5N1 has spread to more animal species world wide since 2020, but its discovery in U.S. livestock earlier this 12 months was a twist that health officials had not anticipated. In rare cases, bird flu viruses can spread to humans and cause mild to severe symptoms This may require hospitalization.

There is currently no evidence that H5N1 is transmitted from individual to individual. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also stated that the danger of infection higher amongst agricultural staff than in the overall population.

Nevertheless, the U.S. government and state and native health authorities surveillance New and emerging infections in humans and animals. Federal agencies within the United States and elsewhere have been tracking the H5N1 virus for years to observe its evolution.

The US government has long stockpiled vaccines and medicines in case of a possible bird flu pandemic. Last week it began preparing almost 5 million doses The Ministry of Health confirmed to CNBC that, amongst other measures, quite a lot of vaccines can be available which can be expected to work well against H5N1.

Some infectious disease experts told CNBC the U.S. government appears to be fundamentally prepared if bird flu spreads further and more easily crosses over to humans, especially in comparison with how well prepared the country was for the Covid pandemic. The experts said many of the mandatory tools are already in place, but the federal government must make sure that it uses them effectively when needed.

“Many of the prerequisites are already in place and help us understand that we can respond more quickly,” said Dr. Andrew PekoszProfessor on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “But as always, it's about the efficiency of our responses, right? We know what we can do. We just need to be able to do it effectively.”

The latest human infection, within the Michigan dairy employee, is not any surprise, based on experts and the federal government. The CDC said Wednesday that similar cases in humans may very well be identified because high concentrations of the virus were present in the raw milk of infected cows.

The US government currently has two vaccine virus candidates which can be believed to be match for H5N1. These candidates are weakened versions of a virus that trigger a protective immune response within the body and will be used to supply vaccines.

Both candidates are already available to manufacturers, based on the CDC. The government began manufacturing 4.8 million doses of those vaccines last week in case of need, the HHS confirmed.

Pekosz called those doses a “first line of defense in case there is actual human-to-human transmission.” He said that number is sufficient to contain an early-stage outbreak, which could include vaccinating farmworkers and a few health care staff.

However, he stressed that much more resources could be needed for the greater than 300 million people within the United States if the virus spreads widely amongst humans.

“Five million won’t get us very far. This is just a quick start,” said Pekosz.

U.S. health officials said on May 1 that the federal government could ship greater than 100 million doses of bird flu vaccines in humans inside three to 4 months, if needed, NBC News reported.

Specifically, two doses of the vaccine are required, meaning 100 million doses are simply enough for 50 million people. This signifies that the US would want about 600 million doses if it desired to vaccinate your entire population.

The government is facing a difficult decision about what number of vaccines to organize, especially since production takes several months.

“It's either too little or too much. For example, if you prepare too much food, a lot of food is wasted,” says Dr. Peter Chin Hongan infectious disease physician at UCSF Health. “That's really the big problem with a vaccine when there's a potential threat. It's the high cost and the high risk.”

Chin-Hong said post-Covid misinformation and vaccine skepticism made that call all of the harder, but he believes you may “never invest too much in preparing for potential pandemics,” especially at a time when climate change, population growth and other aspects are making them increasingly likely.

The Food and Drug Administration would must approve bird flu vaccines before they go in the marketplace, but Pekosz said that may likely be a “quick process” since the FDA is used to approving vaccines. seasonal flu vaccinesthat are produced using the identical manufacturing process as bird flu vaccines.

U.S. health officials are also in talks with mRNA vaccine makers about possible bird flu shots for humans. Few details have been released about those negotiations, however the Health Department said a final announcement is predicted soon.

Unlike traditional flu shots, mRNA works by teaching cells to supply a harmless a part of a virus that triggers an immune response against certain diseases. It is identical technology that each Pfizer And Modern utilized in their Covid vaccines.

Chin-Hong said mRNA vaccines may very well be updated more quickly to match the strains of bird flu currently circulating. But he said these vaccines include their very own challenges, reminiscent of needing to be stored at extremely cold temperatures.

In an announcement to CNBC, Moderna confirmed that it’s in negotiations with the federal government about its experimental pandemic flu vaccine, mRNA-1018, which targets the precise strain of the virus accountable for the outbreak in dairy cows.

The biotechnology company began testing this vaccine in an early to mid-stage study last summer.

Pfizer declined to verify negotiations with the federal government. The company said it was continuing to observe the spread of H5N1 and was testing its mRNA-based vaccine candidates against pandemic flu in an early trial.

The CDC and its partners, including state and native health authorities, use multiple surveillance systems to observe seasonal flu and other diseases. They even have special methods for detecting and monitoring latest flu viruses.

Seasonal flu spreads primarily amongst humans, with predictable peaks all year long, while avian flu spreads primarily amongst wild birds and other animals.

The CDC said it’s waiting for the H5N1 virus spreading to or amongst people in areas where the virus has been detected in animals or people. So far, the agency has found “no evidence of unusual flu activity in people,” including H5N1, based on an update on the agency's website last week.

The CDC also conducts ongoing analyses of seasonal and emerging flu viruses to discover genetic changes that may make the viruses more severe in humans, spread more easily between people, or be less sensitive to vaccines and medications.

Although there may be widespread testing on the federal, state and native levels, it is way harder for the typical person to get tested for bird flu and receive a diagnosis than it’s for Covid, Chin-Hong said. That is “the big obstacle, especially in the populations that are being affected now,” he said.

Chin-Hong is referring to farmworkers, lots of whom are immigrants, who could have difficulty navigating the U.S. health care system on account of language barriers and lack of access to health care.

If people do contract the virus, there are some FDA-approved antiviral drugs for seasonal flu that may also be used for bird flu. These include Tamiflu, a prescription oral medication that needs to be taken inside 48 hours of symptoms onset.

A Texas dairy farm employee who was diagnosed with bird flu in March was treated with an antiviral drug and recovered, based on a CDC report. report.

However, Pekosz said that antiviral drugs available in national stockpiles would likely not be enough for the overwhelming majority of the population, so manufacturers could also be asked to extend their supplies.

According to Francesca Torriani, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego Health, the typical person can protect themselves from bird flu by avoiding contact with live or dead animals which may be infected, reminiscent of livestock or chickens.

People who’ve to return into contact with these animals should wear appropriate masks and eye protection and wash their hands afterwards.

Torriani added that pasteurized milk and cheese are probably safer to devour than raw milk products since the pasteurization process kills harmful bacteria.