Cows stand in a barn on June 14, 2023 in Quemado, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
U.S. health officials are monitoring the situation and preparing for battle bird flu in humans, even if they emphasize that this poses a risk to the general public remains low.
The presence of a strain of bird flu called H5N1 has been confirmed dairy cows in nine US states, as well as in two peopledue to the global epidemic among poultry and other animals. The last case was announced Wednesday by a dairy farm worker in Michigan. AND child in Australia the country announced on Tuesday that it had also recently been infected with bird flu.
The H5N1 virus has been spreading among more animal species around the world since 2020, but its detection in U.S. livestock earlier this year was a development health officials didn’t expect. In uncommon cases, bird flu viruses spread to humans and can cause symptoms gentle to severe which may require hospitalization.
There is currently no evidence that the H5N1 virus is transmitted from person to person. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said the risk of infection is higher among farmers than in the general population.
Yet the U.S. government and state and local health departments do so monitoring up-to-date and emerging infections among humans and animals. Federal agencies in the U.S. and other countries have also been tracking the H5N1 virus for years to monitor its evolution.
The US government has long been stockpiling vaccines and drugs that could be used in the event of a possible bird flu pandemic. The preparation process began last week almost 5 million doses vaccines to be well-matched against H5N1, and other efforts to respond, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to CNBC.
Some infectious disease experts told CNBC that the U.S. government appears generally prepared if bird flu begins to spread more widely and more easily to humans, especially compared to how prepared the country was for the Covid pandemic. Experts said most of the necessary tools are already available, but the government must ensure their effective implementation if needed.
“There are already a lot of elements that lend a hand us understand that we can react faster,” said Dr. Andrew Pekosz, professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “But as always, it’s about the effectiveness of our responses, right? We know what we can do. We just need to be able to do it effectively.”
According to both experts and the government, the latest infection in a Michigan dairy worker is not surprising. The CDC said Wednesday that similar cases have occurred in humans could be identified because high levels of the virus were detected in raw milk from infected cows.
Millions of vaccine doses
The US government currently has this two candidate vaccine viruses which he believes are a good match for the H5N1 virus. These are the candidates weakened versions a virus that triggers a protective immune response in the body and can be used to produce vaccines.
According to the CDC, both candidates are now available to manufacturers. HHS confirmed that the government last week began the process of producing 4.8 million doses of these vaccines for humans in case they are needed.
Pekosz called these doses “the first line of defense in case we see human-to-human transmission.” He said that number would be enough to contain the epidemic in its early stages, which could include vaccinating farm workers and some health care workers.
But he said much more would be needed for the more than 300 million people in the U.S. if the virus spreads widely among people.
“Five million is really not much. This is just a quick start,” Pekosz said.
U.S. health officials said on May 1 that the government could send over 100 million doses human bird flu vaccines within three to four months if needed, NBC News reports.
It’s worth noting that people will need two doses of the vaccine, which means 100 million doses will only be enough for 50 million people. That suggests the U.S. would need about 600 million shots if it wanted to vaccinate its entire population.
The government faces a complex decision on how many shots to prepare, especially since it takes several months to administer them.
“It’s either too little or too much. For example, if you prepare too much food, a lot of it will be wasted,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease physician at UCSF Health. “That’s the substantial puzzle about the vaccine whenever there’s a potential threat. These are high-cost, high-risk aspects.”
Chin-Hong said post-Covid misinformation and vaccine hesitancy makes this decision even more complex. But he said he believes “you can never really overinvest” in preparing for potential pandemics, especially at a time when climate change, population growth and other factors make them more likely.
The Food and Drug Administration would have to approve bird flu vaccines before they can be released on the market. However, Pekosz said it would likely be a “quick process” because the FDA is used to accountability seasonal flu vaccineswhich are manufactured using the same manufacturing process as bird flu vaccines.
Potential mRNA injections
U.S. health officials are also in talks with messenger RNA vaccine makers about potential bird flu vaccines for humans. Not many details have been released about these negotiations, but HHS says a final announcement is expected soon.
Unlike time-honored flu vaccines, mRNA works by teaching cells to produce a harmless piece of the virus that triggers an immune response against certain diseases. In both cases it is the same technology Pfizer AND Current they used in their Covid vaccines.
Chin-Hong said mRNA vaccines could be updated more quickly to match currently circulating strains of bird flu. But he said these vaccines come with their own challenges, such as the need to be stored at extremely low temperatures.
In a statement to CNBC, Moderna confirmed that it is engaged in negotiations with the government regarding its experimental pandemic flu vaccine mRNA-1018. Its target is the exact strain of virus responsible for the outbreak in dairy cattle.
The biotech company began testing the shot last summer in early- and mid-stage trials.
Pfizer declined to confirm negotiations with the government. The company said it continues to monitor the spread of the H5N1 virus and is investigating mRNA-based pandemic flu vaccine candidates in early trials.
Virus surveillance and treatment
CDC and its partners, including state and local health departments, exploit them multiple surveillance systems to monitor seasonal flu and other diseases. They also have specialized methods for detecting and monitoring up-to-date flu viruses.
Seasonal flu spreads mainly among humans, with a predictable peak in cases throughout the year, while avian flu spreads mainly among wild birds and other animals.
The CDC said it is looking for the possibility of the H5N1 virus spreading to or among humans in areas where the virus has been identified in animals or humans. So far, the agency has found “no indicators of unusual influenza activity in humans,” including the H5N1 virus, according to an update to the agency’s website last week.
CDC also conducts ongoing analysis of seasonal and emerging flu viruses to identify genetic changes that may allow them to cause more earnest infections in people, spread more easily between or among people, or become less susceptible to vaccines and drugs.
Although there is extensive testing at the federal, state and local levels, it is much more complex for the average person to get tested and diagnose bird flu on their own, as they do with Covid, Chin-Hong said. It’s a “substantial barrier, especially in populations that are currently impacted,” he said.
Chin-Hong is referring to agricultural workers, a vast portion of whom are immigrants, who may have difficulty navigating the U.S. health care system due to language barriers and access to health care.
If people do become infected with the virus, there are several FDA-approved antiviral medications for seasonal flu that can be used for bird flu. This includes Tamiflu, which is an oral prescription medication that must be taken within 48 hours of symptoms onset.
According to the CDC, a Texas dairy farm worker diagnosed with bird flu in March was treated with an antiviral drug and recovered. report.
But Pekosz said the antiviral drugs in the country’s stockpile are unlikely to be enough for the huge majority of the population, so manufacturers may be asked to escalate supply.
According to Francesca Torriani, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Diego Health, the average person can protect themselves against bird flu by avoiding live or dead animals that may be infected, such as livestock or chickens.
People who must come into contact with these animals should wear appropriate mask and eye protection and wash their hands.
Torriani added that pasteurized milk and cheese are likely safer to consume than raw dairy products because the pasteurization process kills harmful bacteria.
