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From The New York Times, Im Sabrina Tavernise, and this is The Daily.
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The outbreak of bird flu that is tearing through the nations poultry farms is the worst in US history. But scientists say its now starting to spread into places and species its never been before.
Today, my colleague, Emily Anthes, explains.
Its Monday, April 22.
Emily, welcome back to the show.
Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
So, Emily, weve been talking here on The Daily about prices of things and how theyve gotten so high, mostly in the context of inflation episodes. And one of the items that keeps coming up is eggs. Egg prices were through the roof last year, and we learned it was related to this. Avian flu has been surging in the United States. Youve been covering this. Tell us whats happening.
Yes, so I have been covering this virus for the last few years. And the bird flu is absolutely tearing through poultry flocks, and that is affecting egg prices. Thats a concern for everyone, for me and for my family. But when it comes to scientists, egg prices are pretty low on their list of concerns. Because they see this bird flu virus behaving differently than previous versions have. And theyre getting nervous, in particular, about the fact that this virus is reaching places and species where its never been before.
OK, so bird flu, though, isnt new. I mean I remember hearing about cases in Asia in the 90s. Remind us how it began.
Bird flu refers to a bunch of different viruses that are adapted to spread best in birds. Wild water birds, in particular, are known for carrying these viruses. And flu viruses are famous for also being shapeshifters. So theyre constantly swapping genes around and evolving into new strains. And as you mentioned back in the 90s, a new version of bird flu, a virus known as H5N1, emerged in Asia. And it has been spreading on and off around the world since then, causing periodic outbreaks.
And how are these outbreaks caused?
So wild birds are the reservoir for the virus, which means they carry it in their bodies with them around the world as they fly and travel and migrate. And most of the time, these wild birds, like ducks and geese, dont even get very sick from this virus. But they shed it. So as theyre traveling over a poultry farm maybe, if they happen to go to the bathroom in a pond that the chickens on the farm are using or eat some of the feed that chickens on the farm are eating, they can leave the virus behind.
And the virus can get into chickens. In some cases, it causes mild illness. Its whats known as low pathogenic avian influenza. But sometimes the virus mutates and evolves, and it can become extremely contagious and extremely fatal in poultry.
OK, so the virus comes through wild birds, but gets into farms like this, as youre describing. How have farms traditionally handled outbreaks, when they do happen?
Well, because this threat isnt new, there is a pretty well-established playbook for containing outbreaks. Its sometimes known as stamping out. And brutally, what it means is killing the birds. So the virus is so deadly in this highly pathogenic form that its sort of destined to kill all the birds on a farm anyway once it gets in. So the response has traditionally been to proactively depopulate or cull all the birds, so it doesnt have a chance to spread.
So thats pretty costly for farmers.
It is. Although the US has a program where it will reimburse farmers for their losses. And the way these reimbursements work is they will reimburse farmers only for the birds that are proactively culled, and not for those who die naturally from the virus. And the thinking behind that is its a way to incentivize farmers to report outbreaks early.
So, OK, lots of chickens are killed in a way to manage these outbreaks. So we know how to deal with them. But what about now? Tell me about this new strain.
So this new version of the virus, it emerged in 2020.
After the deadly outbreak of the novel coronavirus, authorities have now confirmed an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of influenza, a kind of bird flu.
And pretty quickly it became clear that a couple things set it apart.
A bald eagle found dead at Carvins Cove has tested positive for the highly contagious bird flu.
This virus, for whatever reason, seemed very good at infecting all sorts of wild birds that we dont normally associate with bird flu.
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He was kind of stepping, and then falling over, and using its wing to right itself.
Things like eagles and condors and pelicans.
We just lost a parliament of owls in Minneapolis.
Yeah, a couple of high profile nests.
And also in the past, wild birds have not traditionally gotten very sick from this virus. And this version of the virus not only spread widely through the wild bird population, but it proved to be devastating.
The washing up along the East Coast of the country from Scotland down to Suffolk.
We were hearing about mass die-offs of seabirds in Europe by the hundreds and the thousands.
And the bodies of the dead dot the island wherever you look.
Wow. OK. So then as we know, this strain, like previous ones, makes its way from wild animals to farmed animals, namely to chickens. But its even more deadly.
Absolutely. And in fact, it has already caused the worst bird flu outbreak in US history. So more than 90 million birds in the US have died as a result of this virus.
90 million birds.
Yes, and I should be clear that represents two things. So some of those birds are birds who naturally got infected and died from the virus. But the vast majority of them are birds that were proactively culled. What it adds up to is, is 90 million farmed birds in the US have died since this virus emerged. And its not just a chicken problem. Another thing that has been weird about this virus is it has jumped into other kinds of farms. It is the first time weve seen a bird flu virus jump into US livestock.
And its now been reported on a number of dairy farms across eight US states. And thats just something thats totally unprecedented.
So its showing up at Dairy farms now. Youre saying that bird flu has now spread to cows. How did that happen?
So we dont know exactly how cows were first infected, but most scientists best guess is that maybe an infected wild bird that was migrating shed the virus into some cattle feed or a pasture or a pond, and cattle picked it up. The good news is they dont seem to get nearly as sick as chickens do. They are generally making full recoveries on their own in a couple of weeks.
OK, so no mass culling of cows?
No, that doesnt seem to be necessary at this point. But the bad news is that its starting to look like were seeing this virus spread from cow to cow. We dont know exactly how thats happening yet. But anytime you see cow-to-cow or mammal-to-mammal transmission, thats a big concern.
And why is that exactly?
Well, there are a bunch of reasons. First, it could allow the outbreak to get much bigger, much faster, which might increase the risk to the food supply. And we might also expect it to increase the risk to farm workers, people who might be in contact with these sick cows.
Right now, the likelihood that a farmer who gets this virus passes it on is pretty low. But any time you see mammal-to-mammal transmission, it increases the chance that the virus will adapt and possibly, maybe one day get good at spreading between humans. To be clear, thats not something that theres any evidence happening in cows right now. But the fact that theres any cow-to-cow transmission happening at all is enough to have scientists a bit concerned.
And then if we think more expansively beyond whats happening on farms, theres another big danger lurking out there. And thats what happens when this virus gets into wild animals, vast populations that we cant control.
Well be right back.
So, Emily, you said that another threat was the threat of flu in wild animal populations. Clearly, of course, its already in wild birds. Where else has it gone?
Well, the reason its become such a threat is because of how widespread its become in wild birds. So they keep reintroducing it to wild animal populations pretty much anywhere they go. So weve seen the virus repeatedly pop up in all sorts of animals that you might figure would eat a wild bird, so foxes, bobcats, bears. We actually saw it in a polar bear, raccoons. So a lot of carnivores and scavengers.
The thinking is that these animals might stumble across a sick or dead bird, eat it, and contract the virus that way. But were also seeing it show up in some more surprising places, too. Weve seen the virus in a bottle-nosed dolphin, of all places.
Wow.
And most devastatingly, weve seen enormous outbreaks in other sorts of marine mammals, especially sea lions and seals.
So elephant seals, in particular in South America, were just devastated by this virus last fall. My colleague Apoorva Mandavilli and I were talking to some scientists in South America who described to us what they called a scene from hell, of walking out onto a beach in Argentina that is normally crowded with chaotic, living, breathing, breeding, elephant seals and the beach just being covered by carcass, after carcass, after carcass.
God.
Mostly carcasses of young newborn pups. The virus seemed to have a mortality rate of 95 percent in these elephant seal pups, and they estimated that it might have killed more than 17,000 of the pups that were born last year. So almost the entire new generation of this colony. These are scientists that have studied these seals for decades. And they said theyve never seen anything like it before.
And why is it so far reaching, Emily? I mean, what explains these mass die-offs?
There are probably a few explanations. One is just how much virus is out there in the environment being shed by wild birds into water and onto beaches. These are also places that viruses like this havent been before. So its reaching elephant seals and sea lions in South America that have no prior immunity.
Theres also the fact that these particular species, these sea lions and seals, tend to breed in these huge colonies all crowded together on beaches. And so what that means is if a virus makes its way into the colony, its very conducive conditions for it to spread. And scientists think that thats actually whats happening now. That its not just that all these seals are picking up the virus from individual birds, but that theyre actually passing it to each other.
So basically, this virus is spreading to places its never been before, kind of virgin snow territory, where animals just dont have the immunity against it. And once it gets into a population packed on a beach, say, of elephant seals, its just like a knife through butter.
Absolutely. And an even more extreme example of that is what were starting to see happen in Antarctica, where theres never been a bird flu outbreak before until last fall, for the first time, this virus reached the Antarctic mainland. And we are now seeing the virus move through colonies of not only seabirds and seals, but penguin colonies, which have not been exposed to these viruses before.
Wow.
And its too soon to say what the toll will be. But penguins also, of course, are known for breeding in these large colonies.
Right.
Probably. dont have many immune defenses against this virus, and of course, are facing all these other environmental threats. And so theres a lot of fear that you add on the stress of a bird flu virus, and it could just be a tipping point for penguins.
Emily, at this point, Im kind of wondering why more people arent talking about this. I mean, I didnt know any of this before having this conversation with you, and it feels pretty worrying.
Well, a lot of experts and scientists are talking about this with rising alarm and in terms that are quite stark. Theyre talking about the virus spreading through wild animal populations so quickly and so ferociously that theyre calling it an ecological disaster.
Wow.
But thats a disaster that sometimes seems distant from us, both geographically, were talking about things that are happening maybe at the tip of Argentina or in Antarctica. And also from our concerns of our everyday lives, whats happening in Penguins might not seem like it has a lot to do with the price of a carton of eggs at the grocery store. But I think that we should be paying a lot of attention to how this virus is moving through animal populations, how quickly its moving through animal populations, and the opportunities that it is giving the virus to evolve into something that poses a much bigger threat to human health.
So the way its spreading in wild animals, even in remote places like Antarctica, thats important to watch, at least in part because theres a real danger to people here.
So we know that the virus can infect humans, and that generally its not very good at spreading between humans. But the concern all along has been that if this virus has more opportunities to spread between mammals, it will get better at spreading between them. And that seems to be what is happening in seals and sea lions. Scientists are already seeing evidence that the virus is adapting as it passes from marine mammal to marine mammal. And that could turn it into a virus thats also better at spreading between people.
And if somebody walks out onto a beach and touches a dead sea lion, if their dog starts playing with a sea lion carcass, you could imagine that this virus could make its way out of marine mammals and into the human population. And if its this mammalian adapted version of the virus that makes its way out, that could be a bigger threat to human health.
So the sheer number of hosts that this disease has, the more opportunity it has to mutate, and the more chance it has to mutate in a way that would actually be dangerous for people.
Yes, and in particular, the more mammalian hosts. So that gives the virus many more opportunities to become a specialist in mammals instead of a specialist in birds, which is what it is right now.
Right. I like that, a specialist in mammals. So what can we do to contain this virus?
Well, scientists are exploring new options. Theres been a lot of discussion about whether we should start vaccinating chickens in the US. The government, USDA labs, have been testing some poultry vaccines. Its probably scientifically feasible. There are challenges there, both in terms of logistics just how would you go about vaccinating billions of chickens every year. There are also trade questions. Traditionally, a lot of countries have not been willing to accept poultry products from countries that vaccinate their poultry.
And theres concern about whether the virus might spread undetected in flocks that are vaccinated. So as we saw with COVID, the vaccine can sometimes stop you from getting sick, but it doesnt necessarily stop infection. And so countries are worried they might unknowingly import products that are harboring the virus.
And what about among wild animals? I mean, how do you even begin to get your head around that?
Yeah, I mean, thinking about vaccinating wild animals maybe makes vaccinating all the chickens in the US look easy. There has been some discussion of limited vaccination campaigns, but thats not feasible on a global scale. So unfortunately, the bottom line is there isnt a good way to stop spread in wild animals. We can try to protect some vulnerable populations, but were not going to stop the circulation of this virus.
So, Emily, we started this conversation with a kind of curiosity that The Daily had about the price of eggs. And then you explained the bird flu to us. And then somehow we ended up learning about an ecological disaster thats unfolding all around us, and potentially the source of the next human pandemic. That is pretty scary.
It is scary, and its easy to get overwhelmed by it. And I feel like I should take a step back and say none of this is inevitable. None of this is necessarily happening tomorrow. But this is why scientists are concerned and why they think its really important to keep a very close eye on whats happening both on farms and off farms, as this virus spreads through all sorts of animal populations.
One thing that comes up again and again and again in my interviews with people who have been studying bird flu for decades, is how this virus never stops surprising them. And sometimes those are bad surprises, like these elephant seal die-offs, the incursions into dairy cattle. But there are some encouraging signs that have emerged recently. Were starting to see some early evidence that some of the bird populations that survived early brushes with this virus might be developing some immunity. So thats something that maybe could help slow the spread of this virus in animal populations.
We just dont entirely know how this is going to play out. Flu is a very difficult, wily foe. And so thats one reason scientists are trying to keep such a close, attentive eye on whats happening.
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Emily, thank you.
Thanks for having me.
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Well be right back.
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Heres what else you should know today.
On this vote, the yeas are 366 and the nays are 58. The bill is passed.
On Saturday, in four back-to-back votes, the House voted resoundingly to approve a long-stalled package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and other American allies, delivering a major victory to President Biden, who made aid to Ukraine one of his top priorities.
On this vote, the yeas are 385, and the nos are 34 with one answering present. The bill is passed without objection.
The House passed the component parts of the $95 billion package, which included a bill that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok.
On this vote, the yeas are 311 and the nays are 112. The bill is passed.
Oh, one voting present. I missed it, but thank you.
In a remarkable breach of custom, Democrats stepped in to supply the crucial votes to push the legislation past hard-line Republican opposition and bring it to the floor.
The House will be in order.
The Senate is expected to pass the legislation as early as Tuesday.
Todays episode was produced by Rikki Novetsky, Nina Feldman, Eric Krupke, and Alex Stern. It was edited by Lisa Chow and Patricia Willens; contains original music by Marion Lozano, Dan Powell, Rowan Niemisto, and Sophia Lanman; and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Andrew Jacobs.
Following news of bird flu outbreaks at dairy farms across the US, fragments of the virus have been found in samples of pasteurized milk. However, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests that viral particles are inactive and pose no threat to consumers.
Since late March, H5N1 bird flu has spread to at least 33 dairy herds across eight states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This was a surprising development since it was the first time the virus had been seen infecting cows.
The virus has also infected a single farmworker, becoming the second person ever in the US to be infected, who experienced very mild symptoms.
To better understand the problem, health authorities have been monitoring the milk on shop shelves across the US. Last week, the World Organization (WHO) had detected very high concentrations of the virus in raw milk from infected animals. That is not necessarily surprising as unpasteurized milk can contain all kinds of bacteria and viruses.
In a new development, the FDA has revealed that samples of pasteurized milk in the US have tested positive for inactive remnants of the H5N1 virus. They did not reveal how many samples tested positive nor where the milk was sampled from. However, they did state that pasteurization is likely to inactivate the virus and the process is not expected to remove the presence of viral particles.
To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe, the FDA said in a statement on Tuesday.
Along with testing, the FDA and the US Department of Agriculture are working to divert and destroy milk from sick cows.
Named after French microbiologist Louis Pasteur, pasteurization is the process of heating up food to eliminate pathogens and extend its shelf life. Virtually all milk (99 percent) produced and sold in the US comes from farms that follow a strict pasteurization process, known as the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance.
As a heat-sensitive virus, H5N1 should be inactivated by standard pasteurization techniques at least in theory. However, bird flu infecting cows is a novel problem, so there are currently no studies on the effects of pasteurization of H5N1 in bovine milk.
US government partners have been working with deliberate speed on a wide range of studies looking at milk along all stages of production on the farm, during processing, and on shelves using well-established methodologies used previously to confirm pasteurization effectiveness for known pathogens, the FDA said. This work is a top priority.
The outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza among U.S. dairy cows, first reported on March 25, has now spread to at least 33 herds in eight states. On Wednesday, genetic evidence of the virus turned up in commercially available milk. Federal authorities say the milk supply is safe, but this latest development raises troubling questions about how widespread the outbreak really is.
So far, there is only one confirmed human case. Rick Bright, an expert on the H5N1 virus who served on President Bidens coronavirus advisory board, told me this is the crucial moment. Theres a fine line between one person and 10 people with H5N1, he said. By the time weve detected 10, its probably too late to contain.
Thats when I told him what Id heard from Sid Miller, the Texas commissioner for agriculture. He said he strongly suspected that the outbreak dated back to at least February. The commissioner speculated that then as many as 40 percent of the herds in the Texas Panhandle might have been infected.
Dr. Bright fell silent, then asked a very reasonable question: Doesnt anyone keep tabs on this?
The H5N1 outbreak, already a devastating crisis for cattle farmers and their herds, has the potential to turn into an enormous tragedy for the rest of us. But having spent the past two weeks trying to get answers from our nations public health authorities, Im shocked by how little they seem to know about whats going on and how little of what they do know is being shared in a timely manner.
How exactly is the infection transmitted between herds? The United States Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all say they are working to figure it out.
According to many public health officials, the virus load in the infected cows milk is especially high, raising the possibility that the disease is being spread through milking machines or from aerosolized spray when the milking room floors are power washed. Another possible route is the cows feed, owing to the fairly revolting fact that the U.S. allows farmers to feed leftover poultry bedding material feathers, excrement, spilled seeds to dairy and beef cattle as a cheap source of additional protein.
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Cows in the UK are not being tested for bird flu, despite the outbreak sweeping through American dairy herds, Sky News has been told.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said reports of the H5N1 virus in UK birds and poultry are currently so low that it does not consider cattle to be at risk.
Scientists believe the H5N1 virus has been spreading in US dairy herds undetected for several months.
It is also spreading between cows, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Transmission between mammals is a red flag for scientists monitoring viruses that could cause the next pandemic.
A spokesperson for DEFRA said it was closely monitoring the US situation and collaborating with international partners to understand the origins and spread of the outbreak.
"The risk level in the UK has not changed," they said.
So far, 33 herds in eight states have been confirmed to be affected by the virus, but scientists believe it has spread far more widely since the first reports of a mysterious infection in dairy cows in Texas in February.
A farm worker has tested positive too, though they only developed an eye infection. Other animals, including cats and racoons on farms, have also been infected.
Dr Thomas Peacock, a virologist studying bird flu at the UK Pirbright Institute, said there have been previous outbreaks in mammals, including sea lions, mink and cats - but there are good reasons to be concerned about the situation in cattle.
"There is sustained mammal-to-mammal transmission - and humans have a lot more contact with cows than sea lions," he told Sky News.
"The virus is in the milk and the process of milking produces aerosols, just the sort of things you don't want around people."
Scientists are unclear on how the virus is spreading - or why only dairy herds, not beef cattle, have been affected.
It could be that they have been fed infected poultry carcasses which have been ground up in their feed.
Or that infected wild birds have gained access to the vast and crowded sheds in which many US dairy herds are kept.
Movement of cattle, equipment or people could also be helping the virus to spread.
The US Department of Agriculture has detected fragments of the virus in pasteurised milk, but insisted it was safe to drink.
Read more from Sky News: Bird flu found in king penguins for first time Bird flu leads to 'catastrophic' fall in seabird numbers in UK
But Dr Peacock said there remains a "food safety worry".
"Ingestion is a route of exposure that can lead to infections," he said.
"You definitely would not want to be drinking raw milk from these farms. It would be good to get reassurance that pasteurisation regime is enough to kill all the virus in the milk."
The US Department of Agriculture has issued new rules in an attempt to contain the virus. Lactating cattle must now test negative before being moved to a new state.
Although H5N1 has undergone mutations to survive in cattle cells, scientists say it is still a virus more suited to birds. The risk to people is still considered to be low.
Dr Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said: "The fact that it is in cattle now definitely raises our concern level.
"[But] it's not a new strain of the virus. This is known to us. We've been studying it and been preparing for avian flu for 20 years."
GEOFF BENNETT: The U.S. FDA says that samples of milk taken from grocery stores across the U.S. have tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.
But the agency says it's confident the milk you are buying is safe.
Officials also say the finding suggests the virus is spreading more prevalently among dairy herds than previously thought.
To help slow that spread, the USDA announced today that dairy cattle must now be tested for the virus before moving to a new state.
We're joined now by Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, a director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University.
Thank you for being with us.
So let's start with the latest update, particles of this virus found in commercial pasteurized milk.
How concerned should the everyday consumer be?
DR. JENNIFER NUZZO, Brown University School of Public Health: I don't have any reason to be concerned at this point.
Finding evidence of genetic material, which is what the test results told us, by itself is not alarming.
In order to know if the virus will infect us, we have to do a different kind of test.
And this test was not that.
They're actually undergoing those tests now.
But I don't have any reason to think that we will be harmed, because we use pasteurization.
And I have no reason to think that the H5N1 virus is any different from all the other pathogens that we think could be in milk.
Pasteurization doesn't remove the genetic material of those pathogens, but it changes the pathogens and either kills or it activates them, so that they can't infect us.
And I fully expect that that's what the test results will say, and just more reason to choose pasteurized milk over raw milk.
GEOFF BENNETT: And yet we know that this virus is more prevalent in dairy cows than previously thought.
How worrying is that, just the prevalence alone?
DR. JENNIFER NUZZO: Yes, so I am quite worried about that.
But I'm not worried about that because I think it means something for a threat to the general public.
I'm worried about it because it's an indication that we're not doing good enough surveillance to try to keep track of this virus, to stay ahead of it, and, most importantly, we're not doing enough surveillance to protect the farmworkers, who we know are likely being exposed to this virus.
So where I am worried right now is specifically for the farmworkers.
We have already had the report of one farmworker who was infected.
Fortunately, it was a mild infection.
But, historically, people who have been infected with this virus have not experienced mild symptoms.
So I am most worried about protecting farmworkers who we think are likely having exposure to this virus, especially now that we are finding out that it may be in far more places than we previously thought.
GEOFF BENNETT: Well, when it comes to the USDA doing more effective surveillance and communication, what does that work actually look like?
DR. JENNIFER NUZZO: It means doing more testing.
And testing of dairy cows up until this point, and even now, is actually voluntary.
And USDA recommends only testing cows with symptoms.
We know that that's likely not to be sufficient to detect the virus in all places that it is.
First of all, you can only find it if you choose to do the test.
And, also, we know that, in North Carolina, when they tested cows without symptoms, they in fact found the virus.
So if we're only doing voluntary testing and if we're only testing symptomatic cows, then, by definition, we're probably not going to find the virus until after farmworkers have been exposed.
Now, there was important development today, where the USDA said it would require testing of cows before they move between states.
And that's potentially an important development, particularly if we think the movement of cows is what's spreading this virus.
Unfortunately, we actually don't have a lot of data that tells us what is spreading this virus.
So it's hard for me to judge how much of an impact this policy will have.
I do think more testing is better than less testing.
So I'm happy to see this, but I really wish we had more data that would give me more confidence that we are tracking this virus to stay ahead of it, but, most importantly, to make sure that we're protecting workers who may be exposed to it.
GEOFF BENNETT: And how prepared is the U.S. for the possibility of a still-remote -- we should emphasize and underscore that -- bird flu pandemic?
DR. JENNIFER NUZZO: Absolutely.
Thank you for underscoring that.
Yes, today I am not worried that we are in a pandemic, by any means, but we should very much pay attention to this virus.
We have actually been tracking this virus for more than 20 years.
Some of these latest developments do increase my worry a bit.
In terms of how prepared we'd be to respond, I mean, obviously, we look back on what happened with the COVID-19 pandemic, and we saw many challenges.
Some of those challenges have been addressed, but some of them still haven't.
Influenza is an easier case.
When we started the COVID-19 pandemic, we had no idea whether we would have vaccines within a year.
We already know that we can make H5N1 vaccines, so that puts us at an advantage, but there will still be challenges.
It will take time to make enough vaccine for everyone.
There will be challenges about what we do in the meantime.
Influenza viruses typically affect the very young and the very old, so we have more high-risk groups than we probably had with COVID-19, so there are still some challenges, to be sure.
The reason why we are tracking this virus is so that we can get a signal of its potential threat, so that we can act very, very quickly to prevent the kind of harms that we saw in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, so that we don't have a repeat of that.
GEOFF BENNETT: Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, a director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, thanks so much for your time and for your insights.
DR. JENNIFER NUZZO: Thanks for having me.
The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers.
WASHINGTON The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that samples of pasteurized milk had tested positive for remnants of the bird flu virus that has infected dairy cows.
The agency stressed that the material is inactivated and that the findings do not represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers. Officials added that they're continuing to study the issue.
To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe, the FDA said in a statement.
The announcement comes nearly a month after an avian influenza virus that has sickened millions of wild and commercial birds in recent years was detected in U.S. dairy cows in at least eight states. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says nearly 33 herds have been affected to date.
FDA officials didn't indicate how many samples they tested or where they were obtained.
The lab test they used would have detected viral genetic material even after live virus was killed by pasteurization, or heat treatment, said Lee-Ann Jaykus, an emeritus food microbiologist and virologist at North Carolina State University
There is no evidence to date that this is infectious virus and the FDA is following up on that, Jaykus said.
Testing has confirmed that antiviral medications used against the seasonal flu would be effective against the H5N1 bird flu virus that also infects dairy cattle, said theCenters for Disease Control. The USDA said on Monday the virus has been confirmed in 33 dairy herds in eight states since it was first identified on March 25.
A dairy worker in Texas apparently contracted bird flu on the job and was treated for conjunctivitis early this month. It was the first known instance of likely mammal to human transmission, said the CDC. Authorities say risk of H5N1 to the public is low, and surveillance would continue to see if the virus was evolving to spread more easily.
This week CDC completed susceptibility testing for influenza antiviral medications that are used for seasonal influenza, said the agency in an update of its activities. Testing confirmed that the A(H5N1) virus was susceptible to all commercially available FDA-approved and recommended neuraminidase inhibitor antivirals, such as oseltamivir, zanamivir, and peramivir. Tests of a different antiviral, baloxavir marboxil, were under way.
Nearly 91 million birds in domestic U.S. flocks, mostly egg-laying chickens and turkeys being raised for human consumption, have died in outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) since February 2022, according toUSDA data. Some 8.7 million birds have died of HPAI or were culled as part of infected flocks this month. Nearly 9 billion broiler chickens and turkeys are slaughtered annually for meat.
HPAI is much milder among dairy cattle. Symptoms include a loss of appetite, reduced milk production, lethargy, and fever, most often among older cows. The cattle recover in a couple of weeks.
The latest case of HPAI in dairy cattle was in Idaho, its second infected herd, said the USDA. Texas has the largest number, 12 herds, according to aUSDA database.
Wild birds are believed to spread HPAI, so animal welfare officials urge farmers to adopt strong biosecurity measures, such as keeping wild birds away from their stock, limiting access by outsiders to their farms, and using foot baths to sanitize boots before entering barns.
Some poultry farmers use lasers, drones, air horns, and balloons to frighten wild birds from their property, reported theNew York Times. A sales manager for Bird Control Group, which makes roof-mounted laser systems, said dairy farmers were joining the customer list.
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As whooping cough cases are surging globally, some may wonder if its necessary to get a booster.
Cases of the childhood respiratory disease also known as pertussis are surging internationally and in parts of the U.S., according to a recent report.
Bordetella pertussis is a type of bacteria that causes a very contagious respiratory infection that spreads from person to person through small respiratory droplets, per the CDC.
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"Reports indicate that whooping cough outbreaks are surging across Europe, Asia and parts of the United States, including Northern California, marking the largest uptick since 2012, with cases rising sharply since December," Maggie Rae, president of the Royal Society of Medicines epidemiological and public health section in London, told Fox News Digital.
Bordetella pertussis is a type of bacteria that causes a contagious respiratory infection that spreads from person to person through small respiratory droplets, per the CDC. (iStock)
In the U.K., there were an estimated 555 cases in January of this year and 913 cases in February compared to 858 cases for all of 2023, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
Cases in China totaled more than 15,000 this January. That's 15 times higher than the same time period last year, reports stated.
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"Concerns are mounting in Europe, especially in the Netherlands, where 1,800 cases were reported in the first two weeks of April, leading to four deaths, with declining childhood vaccination rates cited as a possible cause by public health officials," Rae said.
"This is a very important public health issue, and I would urge those members of the public who require a vaccine for pertussis to take this up."
Whooping cough is mostly controlled in the United States, although "breakthrough cases" can occur in people who are fully vaccinated.
Cases of the childhood respiratory disease known as whooping cough or pertussis are surging internationally and in parts of the U.S., according to a recent report. (iStock)
Clusters of cases in certain parts of the U.S. are expected for this time of year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There have been small "clusters" of cases of whooping cough in the U.S., extending from San Francisco to New York City.
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A Catholic high school in San Francisco, California, has reported more than 12 cases since January, according to local reports.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene estimated 244 cases from Oct. 1, 2023, to Jan. 31, 2024.
That's a 200% increase compared to the same time period in the prior year, a recent health advisory stated.
"This is a very important public health issue."
Most unvaccinated cases involved infants, while most vaccinated individuals were school-aged children.
A majority of adults had an unknown vaccination history, the advisory noted.
The U.S. typically has approximately 20,000 cases of pertussis per year. Yet as people donned masks and practiced physical distancing during the pandemic, annual cases dropped to 6,124 in 2020 and 2,116 in 2021, according to the CDC.
Clusters of cases often occur where there are large groups of young people, such as child care centers and schools.
"The symptoms of pertussis are initially like a cold, with a runny nose, and progress to a cough," Jennifer Duchon, M.D., hospital epidemiologist and director of antimicrobial stewardship at Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital in New York, told Fox News Digital.
Patients tend to develop a cough that can become severe sometimes to the point of vomiting, Duchon said.
Health care providers typically test for the disease with a nasal swab. (iStock)
"The characteristic whooping sound is a gasp that is made when trying to breathe after a long episode of coughing," she added.
The cough can linger for weeks after a person catches pertussis.
When outbreaks occur, babies are at a high risk of getting sick and dying from the infection, health officials warn.
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"Pertussis is most severe in infants 6 months of age or less, especially in infants who were born preterm or are not immunized," Duchon said.
"Young infants can have a severe cough that impairs their ability to breathe, and can lead to episodes where they vomit, struggle to breathe or even cease breathing after bouts of coughing."
Patients tend to develop a cough that can become severe sometimes to the point of vomiting, a doctor said. "The characteristic whooping sound is a gasp that is made when trying to breathe after a long episode of coughing." (iStock)
Babies often wont make that whooping sound, so a warning sign is when their face turns blue as they struggle to breathe, the CDC noted.
The infection can progress to bacterial pneumonia or a condition called pulmonary hypertension, in which heart function is affected by the disease, Duchon warned.
Health care providers typically test for the disease with a nasal swab.
"If pertussis is caught early, patients can take an antibiotic called azithromycin, but this only helps make the disease less severe and does not cure the disease," Duchon noted.
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"If someone is exposed to pertussis and is at risk for severe disease or had a lot of contact with the ill person, doctors will sometimes recommend a short course of an antibiotic to act as a prophylaxis against the disease."
Currently, there are two kinds of vaccines for whooping cough available in the U.S., according to the CDC.
"The best way to prevent the disease is to make sure that all family members and health care workers are up-to-date on their vaccinations not only for pertussis, but also other vaccine-preventable diseases," Duchon told Fox News Digital.
"Children should get their primary series of vaccines at 2 months, 4 months and 6 months, and then at 15 months through 18 months, and at 4 years through 6 years," a doctor advised. (iStock)
The DTaP vaccine protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
The Tdap vaccine protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.
The DTaP vaccine is for babies, while the Tdap "booster" vaccine is for pre-teens, teenagers and adults, per the CDC.
"Before vaccination became available, the disease used to be a major cause of mortality in young children," Duchon noted.
Due to the high risk to babies, the CDC recommends that pregnant women receive the Tdap vaccine during the 27th and 36th week of pregnancy, regardless of their prior vaccination status.
This prevents 78% of cases in infants younger than 2 months old and decreases hospitalization by 90% for infants younger than 2 months old who are infected with pertussis, according to the CDC.
"Everyone in close contact with a very young infant should be vaccinated against pertussis."
It is recommended that babies get immunized with the DTaP vaccine series, which provides immunity for three separate infectious diseases diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
"Children should get their primary series of vaccines at 2 months, 4 months and 6 months, and then at 15 months through 18 months, and at 4 years through 6 years," Duchon advised.
The Tdap vaccine protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. (iStock)
Adolescents should receive the Tdap vaccine at 11 to 12 years old to boost their immunity, the CDC recommends.
In children who receive the full series, 98% have full protection against the infection within a year after the last dose, but the response decreases to 71% after five years, the agency states.
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As pertussis immunity wanes from the original vaccination series in childhood, adults should get regular boosters, Monica Gandhi, M.D., professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at UCSF/ San Francisco General Hospital, told Fox News Digital.
"Although the exact frequency of the need for booster vaccination has not been precisely worked out, we recommend a tetanus vaccine every 10 years," she said.
The DTaP vaccine protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. (iStock)
As the pertussis vaccine comes formulated with tetanus immunization in the form of the Tdap vaccine, many practitioners recommend a pertussis vaccine every 10 years when the booster for tetanus is provided, according to Gandhi.
Other providers may only recommend routine pertussis boosters in certain circumstances, such as for pregnant women or adults who have never been vaccinated, Duchon added.
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"Everyone in close contact with a very young infant should be vaccinated against pertussis," she said.
"We call this strategy cocooning, where those around the baby form a protective wall against the disease."
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.
By Sam Tobin
LONDON (Reuters) - Pfizer and BioNTech asked a London court to revoke rival Moderna's patents over technology key to the development of vaccines for COVID-19, as the latest leg of a global legal battle began on Tuesday.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech sued Moderna at London's High Court in September 2022, seeking to revoke patents held by Moderna, which hit back days later alleging its patents had been infringed.
The competing lawsuits over the companies' two vaccines, which helped save millions of lives and made the companies billions of dollars, are just one strand of ongoing litigation around the world which focuses on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
Moderna says Pfizer and BioNTech copied mRNA advances it had pioneered and patented well before the COVID-19 pandemic began in late 2019.
U.S.-based Moderna is seeking damages for alleged infringement of its patents by Pfizer and BioNTech's Comirnaty shot on sales since March 2022.
Pfizer made $11.2 billion in sales from Comirnaty last year, while Moderna earned $6.7 billion from its vaccine Spikevax, illustrating the potentially huge sums at stake.
Pfizer and BioNTech, however, are asking the High Court to revoke Moderna's patents, arguing that Moderna's developments of mRNA technology were obvious improvements on previous work.
The London lawsuits have been split into three separate trials, with one due to consider Moderna's 2020 pledge not to enforce its vaccine-related patents during the pandemic starting next.
Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna are also involved in parallel proceedings in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States, much of which has been put on hold, as well as at the European Patent Office.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)
Representational image of a vaccine
The coronavirus was one tough cookie to beat. Much like the mythological Hydra, if you managed to kill one of its variants, it only came back with a stronger and meaner version, which often required an entirely new type of intervention (read: booster doses) to slay. Such is the fight against viruses in general, and why we still havent beaten the common cold, which has since mutated to 160 different strains now.
For this reason, coming up with a master vaccine that can eliminate all strains of the same family of viruses has seemed like a pipe dream ever since we started researching antivirals. However, scientists are pioneering a new vaccine platform that could do just that! And at the heart of this innovation lies one of the fundamental blocks of our cells: RNA.
For a refresher, RNAs are the intermediaries between the DNA and the protein-making process. Think of the DNA as a blueprint that tells you exactly how to make something, say, a house. The RNA copies the blueprint bit by bit and takes this message to centres with building materials, where the house can actually be constructed.
When a host is infected, their body produces small amounts of RNAs as an immune response to a viral infection. These fighters are called RNAis, and help kill the virus. To get around this setback, the viruses produce proteins that block the RNAi response.
The new technique attempts to manipulate the virus protein-manufacturing process in their new vaccine. Unlike traditional vaccines, which rely on the body's immune response, this method activates RNAi, offering a novel approach to viral defense.
The scientists found that if you weaken the virus first, it hinders their ability to block RNAi.
It (the virus) can replicate to some level, but then loses the battle to the host RNAi response. A virus weakened in this way can be used as a vaccine for boosting our RNAi immune system, explains study author Shouwei Ding.
This new method even addresses the everlong mutation problem too. While traditional vaccines focus on deactivating a specific part of the virus to destroy them, the new RNAi method targets their whole genome, meaning that it will work for any future mutated strains as well. Or as the study authors put it, they cannot escape this.
Moreover, this platform presents a game-changer for vulnerable populations such as infants and individuals with compromised immune systems. By bypassing the need for traditional B and T cell immune responses, this vaccine holds promise for those typically ineligible for live vaccines.
Initial trials on mice, including genetically modified newborns devoid of B and T cells, have yielded promising results. A single injection provided robust protection against the Nodamura virus for an extended period, showcasing the platform's efficacy and potential longevity.
Looking ahead, the researchers aim to adapt this technology to tackle influenza, with plans for a nasal spray vaccine to alleviate needle-related concerns.
Our next step is to use this same concept to generate a flu vaccine, so infants can be protected. If we are successful, theyll no longer have to depend on their mothers antibodies, Ding notes.
While challenges remain, including extensive human trials and regulatory approvals, the prospect of universal protection against a spectrum of viruses looms tantalisingly close. With one shot, we could be looking to neutralise a multitude of human pathogens, including dengue, SARS and COVID.
The findings of this study have been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and can be accessed here.
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