Year: 2024
As bird flu spreads among U.S. cattle, veterinarians find themselves in a familiar position: the frontlines
STAT When, in April, the federal government began requiring some cows to be tested for a strain of avian flu before their herds could be moved across state lines, it seemed like an obvious step to try to track and slow the virus that had started spreading among U.S. dairy cattle. But Joe Armstrong, a veterinarian at […]
Jul 3, 2024
CDC looks to expand capacity to test for H5N1 bird flu in people
STAT As the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in dairy cows enters its fourth month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking steps to ramp up the nation’s capacity to test for the virus in people. In a call with reporters Tuesday, Nirav Shah, the CDC’s principal deputy director, emphasized that the risk to the general […]
Jul 3, 2024
FDA Finds Infectious H5N1 Bird Flu Virus In 14% Of Raw Milk Samples
Forbes An alarming 14% of raw milk samples taken from states with dairy herd outbreaks contained infectious H5N1 bird flu, according to new testing results released by the FDA. The researchers took 275 milk samples from bulk storage tanks on farms in four states where dairy cattle are confirmed to be infected by H5N1. The virus was […]
Jul 3, 2024
Colorado has the most cases of bird flu among dairy cows in the U.S.
Colorado Public Radio Cases of highly pathogenic avian flu cases in Colorado dairy cows keep rising, with numbers from a federal website recording the state as having more cases than any other. A top state health official said Tuesday the state is working with dairy farms and the industry as they continue to work to […]
Jul 2, 2024
As Conspiracy Theories Abound, Can We Restore Trust in Public Health?
MedPageToday With the House still investigating the pandemic, its origins, and our government’s responses — and with perhaps the most well-known public health figure in the hot seat (Anthony Fauci, MDopens in a new tab or window) — now seems a good time to reflect on how we might begin to restore our trust in […]
Jul 2, 2024
Mini-Strokes, Gut Problems: Scientists See Links to an Old Bout of Covid
WSJ Feeling ill? The cause might be years old. Scientists suspect that one culprit behind your new illness might be the infection you got a couple of years ago. The link between new health problems and your past health history appears to be particularly prevalent with Covid. A new Nature Medicine study found that health problems stemming […]
Jul 2, 2024
Scientists wary of bird flu pandemic ‘unfolding in slow motion’
Reuters Scientists tracking the spread of bird flu are increasingly concerned that gaps in surveillance may keep them several steps behind a new pandemic, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen leading disease experts. Many of them have been monitoring the new subtype of H5N1 avian flu in migratory birds since 2020. But […]
Jul 2, 2024
NIH-sponsored trial of nasal COVID-19 vaccine opens
NIH Candidate vaccine could provide enhanced breadth of protection against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. A Phase 1 trial testing the safety of an experimental nasal vaccine that may provide enhanced breadth of protection against emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is now enrolling healthy adults at three sites in the United States. The […]
Jul 2, 2024
COVID trend reaches “high” level across western U.S. in latest CDC data
CBS News A key indicator for tracking the spread of COVID-19 has officially reached “high” levels across western U.S. states, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now shows. But the agency says it remains too early to say whether this year’s summer COVID-19 surge has arrived nationwide. Levels of SARS-CoV-2 virus showing up in wastewater samples […]
Jul 2, 2024
Pasteurization Kills Bird Flu Virus in Milk, New Studies Confirm
Scientific American Flash pasteurization destroyed H5N1 viral particles that were highly concentrated in raw milk, confirming that standard techniques can keep dairy products safe from bird flu. Pasteurization—the process of using high heat to eliminate harmful microbes in foods—effectively kills the H5N1 avian influenza virus that is currently circulating in U.S. cattle. In a new […]
Jul 2, 2024