By St. Luke’s University Health Network “In response to avian influenza (a.k.a. “avian flu” or “bird flu”), St. Luke’s is preparing its lab for surveillance and opened an email “helpline” to answer basic questions from the public.”… “During the height of the Covid crisis, St. Luke’s emerged as the leading source of information and guidance locally as well as a most trusted resource statewide and nationally. “We are proud of our leadership role and continue to take our responsibility to our community very seriously,” Jahre said. “We learned during Covid that we cannot wait for government agencies to ride in and save the day.”” St. Luke’s is working closely with the Network’s lab and clinical providers to ensure prompt diagnosis and treatment should there be local cases of human infection of avian influenza. In addition, the Network’s Occupational Medicine department has proactively shared information with and offered assistance to the region’s extensive poultry industry.” to read the full article go to https://www.tapinto.net/towns/north-hunterdon/articles/st-luke-s-takes-steps-to-identify-bird-flu-cases-and-prepare-for-future-developments
“New strain of bird flu is detected in a Nevada dairy worker, CDC says” By MIKE STOBBE and Jonel Aleccia “A dairy worker in Nevada was infected with a new type of bird flu that’s different from the version that has been spreading in U.S. herds since last year, federal health officials said Monday.” “The newer strain had been seen before in more than a dozen people exposed to poultry, but this is the first time an infection was traced to a cow.” to read the full article go to https://apnews.com/article/bird-flu-nevada-strain-06ca2696a3477b7534cc4d6b3a5edfa8
“US dodged a bird flu pandemic in 1957 thanks to eggs and luck. Can we do it again?” by Alexandra M. Lord “As a historian of medicine, I have always been fascinated by the key moments that halt an epidemic. Studying these moments provides some insight into how and why one outbreak may become a deadly pandemic, while another does not.” to read the full article go to https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/09/health/bird-flu-pandemic-conversation-partner/index.html?cid=ios_app
By Lola Fadulu “All live bird markets in New York City and in several nearby counties must close temporarily in hopes of curbing the spread of bird flu, which was detected at some of the markets in the past week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Friday. The order, which came from the state’s Department of Agriculture and Markets, affects the roughly 80 live markets in New York City and in Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Seven cases of bird flu had been detected at markets in Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn.” to read the full article go to https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/nyregion/nyc-bird-flu-markets.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Bird Flu Suspected in Deaths of Ducks and Wild Birds at N.Y.C. Zoos“ By Maia Coleman “Three ducks at the Queens Zoo died because of bird flu, and as many as 12 more birds at the Bronx Zoo that died after possible exposure were being tested for the virus, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, the nonprofit that operates the parks. The deaths and possible exposures at the Queens Zoo and the Bronx Zoo, one of the largest and most well-known zoos in the United States, come as an outbreak of bird flu has spread across the country, sickening chickens and dairy cattle and driving up the price of eggs.” to see the full article go to https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/nyregion/bird-flu-bronx-queens-zoo.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“Bird flu variant found in Nevada cows shows signs of adaptation to mammals” By Brenda Goodman “The newer variant of avian influenza that recently infected dairy cattle in Nevada has a genetic change that’s thought to help the virus copy itself in mammals — including humans — more easily, according to a new technical brief from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.” to read the full article go to https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/health/bird-flu-variant-nevada-human-case/index.html?cid=ios_app
By David Malakoff “A 15% indirect cost rate will now apply to all new and existing grants, NIH said in a memo from its Director’s office. Typically, about 30% of an average NIH grant to an institution is earmarked for indirect costs, according to NIH, but some universities get much higher rates. In 2023, NIH, the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, spent nearly $9 billion on indirect costs; the change would likely leave research institutions needing to find billions of dollars from other sources to support laboratories, students, and staff. “It is… vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead,” NIH wrote in the memo. The new rate brings NIH into line with the maximum indirect costs rates allowed by private foundations, NIH stated, and is higher than the minimum 10% indirect cost payment NIH says it is required to provide. “This rate will allow grant recipients a reasonable and realistic recovery of indirect costs,” the memo stated.” to read the full story go to https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-slashes-overhead-payments-research-sparking-outrage
“Trump Administration Cuts Put Medical Progress at Risk, Researchers Say By Christina Jewett and Sheryl Gay Stolberg “The leading category of study at the National Institutes of Health is cancer research, an area that has produced breakthrough drugs that have significantly extended survival for people with certain blood cancers and skin cancers. Close behind is infectious disease research, an area that produced the mRNA technology that rapidly produced vaccines against Covid in 2020.” to read the full story go to https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/us/politics/medical-research-funding-cuts-university-budgets.html
“Cats that became infected with bird flu might have spread the virus to humans in the same household and vice versa, according to data that briefly appeared online in a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but then abruptly vanished. The data appear to have been mistakenly posted but includes crucial information about the risks of bird flu to people and pets.” to read the full article go to https://bioethics.com/archives/96116
“CDC Weekly Report Back After 2-Week Halt But No H5N1 Bird Flu Info” By Bruce Y. Lee “With the H5N1 bird flu’s spread among different animals in the U.S. and the risk it will jump to humans, you’d expect the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report to be an important source of up-to-date information….But for the past two weeks, for first time since 1952, the MMWR was a mm-not-this-week report. That coincided with the Trump administration’s halt on communications from federal agencies that began on Jan. 21 and was supposed to end on Feb. 1. After a two-week hiatus, new MMWR articles finally did appear on Feb. 6. But noticeably missing was anything about the bird flu. “What was striking was the lack of any information on the bird flu or the new strain of mPox that’s been going around.” to read the full article go to https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2025/02/07/cdc-mmwr-back-after-2-week-halt-but-without-h5n1-bird-flu-studies/
“The U.S. Is Not Ready for Bird Flu in Humans” By Megha Satyanarayana
“Right after President Donald Trump took office, amid the flurry of executive orders and agency upheavals, the administration told the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to release any reports or communications until one of Trump’s people could take a look at them. Among the many reports not released that week was a study on how many veterinarians had gotten bird flu.” “This virus is versatile. This virus is mutating. And it is surely infecting more people than we think.” to read the full article go to https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-us-is-not-ready-for-bird-flu-in-humans/
“The U.S. Is Having Its Mildest Covid Winter Yet” https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/upshot/covid-illnesses-mild-winter.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
“President Trump has selected Gerald Parker, a veterinarian and former top-ranking federal health official, to head the White House’s pandemic office, two U.S. officials tell CBS News. “”I’ve not been a fan of every choice that Donald Trump has made. And I’ve been very critical of many of them. This one is a very good choice,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator under President Biden. Jha said he had consulted with Parker many times, describing him as widely known within the public health community as “deeply knowledgeable, serious, not particularly partisan, but really just very focused on important issues.”” to read the full article go to https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-head-pandemic-office-gerald-parker/
“Tracking Bird Flu Is Largely Left to States. Under Trump, the Federal Government Might Step Even Further Back.” by Nina B. Elkadi ““I’m sure that this administration does not want another pandemic as it moves forward. My concerns are that we might be taking our focus off of infectious disease in general, and then off of H5N1, when we actually need a lot more focus,” she says. “We need to remember that there are really important roles that government plays in protecting human health.”” to read the full article go to https://sentientmedia.org/tracking-bird-flu-trump-federal-government/
“Travelers and health-care providers should be on alert due to Ebola disease outbreak in Uganda, CDC warns” By Jen Christensen https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/06/health/cdc-warning-ebola-disease-outbreak-uganda/index.html?cid=ios_app
By Brenda Goodman, CNN “This is the second known instance of avian flu being introduced into cattle herds by birds, and experts say it marks a turning point in the nation’s efforts to contain the virus. “It’s much easier to control virus spread when you’re talking about a virus spreading from cow to cow than controlling spread from birds to cows,” said Dr. Scott Hensley, a microbiologist who studies the evolution of flu viruses at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.” to read the full article go to https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/05/health/bird-flu-cattle-nevada/index.html
“US officials detect second bird flu strain in dairy cattle” ““If this turns out to have been something that crossed into cattle a couple months ago, a couple months is a long time not to detect it,” said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona who has studied the H5N1 virus in cattle. He added that it’s important for federal officials to share promptly information about a virus that has the potential to trigger a pandemic that could “make Covid seem like a walk in the park”.” to read the full article go to
“USDA confirms spillover of 2nd H5N1 avian flu genotype into dairy cattle’ By Lisa Schnirring ‘University of Minnesota epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, said, “We shouldn’t be surprised about a new spillover to cattle, given the very significant activity in waterfowl across much of the United States.” He added that the virus is not going away, contrary to those who thought B3.13 would burn itself out. Osterholm is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, which publishes CIDRAP News.’ to read the full article go to
By Alice Park “One promising method is sampling wastewater. The technique continues to prove useful for monitoring COVID-19; since most people now self-test and formal data collection has diminished, wastewater is the most reliable way of tracking upticks and changes in infections since it doesn’t require people to report results. Scientists are now figuring out how to apply the same principle to test wastewater on farms for H5N1, the avian influenza virus.” to read the full article go to https://time.com/7212477/wastewater-testing-farms-bird-flu/
‘‘US reports 1st outbreak of ‘highly pathogenic’ H5N9 virus in poultry. Should we worry?’’ By Emily Cooke ‘A strain of bird flu never seen before in the United States has been detected among poultry at a California farm. The virus, called highly pathogenic H5N9, is a type of avian influenza, otherwise known as “bird flu.” This is not the same type of bird flu that’s already been spreading on dairy cow and poultry farms in the U.S., causing at least several dozen infections in humans. That virus is called H5N1. So what is H5N9? How does it differ from H5N1, and should we be equally concerned about it?’ to read the full article go to https://www.livescience.com/health/flu/us-reports-1st-outbreak-of-highly-pathogenic-h5n9-virus-in-poultry-should-we-worry
