By Mackenzie Lofgren.

“Dr. Michael Osterholm is a medical detective and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, or CIDRAP, at the University of Minnesota. Osterholm has nearly 50 years of investigating infectious disease outbreaks and public health threats.”…
“Today, I am certain that we are seeing clouds of dust with bird feces in that, and we are beginning to see what I would consider to be almost an environmental type disease…..”
“Now that the virus has gone airborne, Osterholm believes we’re going to start seeing more and more cases in humans with no explanation for why they occurred. Meaning, people are going to get sick without even coming in contact with the infected animal.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/wind-blowing-feces-may-be-route-of-transmission-for-bird-flu/

“As bird flu rises, federal health agencies are halting external communications. Are we flying blind?”
by Nicole Karlis
““Similar temporary freezes were implemented during presidential transitions previously. These pauses typically allow incoming leadership to review and align agency activities with new priorities,” he said. “However lack of clarity with respect to the scope, duration and implementation — especially concerns about potential delays in critical public health information are valid.””
to read the full article go to
https://www.salon.com/2025/01/25/as-bird-flu-rises-health-agencies-are-halting-external-communications-are-we-flying-blind/

How will federal health ‘black out’ affect bird flu response?
By Safia Samee Ali
“CNN reported that a follow-up memo specified the blackout is set to last through Feb. 1, and includes public speaking engagements and communications with lawmakers. Communications deemed urgent, such as recall notices or those required by law, are exempt but higher-ups must be notified.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/federal-health-black-out-bird-flu/

By Beatrice M. Spadacini
“The Outbreak Atlas, co-authored by Katz and Wellcome Trust scholar Mackenzie S. Moore, uses global case studies to explain outbreak preparedness, response, and recovery. It aims to educate people with the tools to make informed decisions during disease outbreaks, regardless of federal actions.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/opinion/contributors/2025/01/22/bird-flu-and-the-battle-against-emerging-diseases/77873522007/

“The US Has Bird Flu Vaccines. Here’s Why You Can’t Get One”

By Emily Mullen
“Experts say the decision comes down to risk, and currently, the risk of H5N1 remains low. Rolling out a vaccine to farm workers and others at higher risk of infection would be a more targeted tactic, but even that measure may be premature. Now, with a changeover in federal health leadership imminent as President Donald Trump begins his second term, the decision rests with the new administration.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-has-bird-flu-vaccines-heres-why-you-cant-get-one/

Trump administration asks U.S. health agencies to pause reports, online posts
the Associated Press ·
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/health-communication-trump-1.7438695

By Texas Biomedical Research Institute

“Researchers at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) have identified a strain of bird flu isolated from a human in Texas that carries a distinctive set of mutations, making it more adept at replicating in human cells and causing severe disease in mice. This strain was compared to one found in dairy cattle, and the findings are detailed in Emerging Microbes & Infections.
The discovery underscores a significant concern about the H5N1 strains of bird flu currently circulating in the U.S.: the virus’s rapid mutation when it infects a new host species.”

to read the full story go to
https://scitechdaily.com/first-u-s-h5n1-death-sparks-urgency-scientists-warn-that-bird-flu-is-mutating-faster-than-expected/

by Juliana Kim

“”Accelerating the development of new vaccines will allow us to stay ahead and ensure that Americans have the tools they need to stay safe,” outgoing HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Friday.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/18/nx-s1-5266868/bird-flu-vaccine-moderna

“As bird flu concerns grow, scientists race to develop new vaccines”
By Berkeley Lovelace Jr.
“The federal government already has two bird flu vaccine candidates in limited quantities in the nation’s stockpile. Those shots use traditional vaccine technology, but take far longer to produce — a hindrance during an emergency like a fast-moving pandemic.
Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, said an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine is important because the technology is faster to develop and easier to update than more traditional vaccines.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/bird-flu-concerns-grow-scientists-race-develop-new-vaccines-rcna187824

By Mary Kekatos

“”It’s not universal surveillance. We’re not able to capture all of the cases that we might like to catch,” Moody said. “And so, it’s kind of hard to know what to do with isolated data points like this, when you get a report of, yes, this is a confirmed case. But it’s also like, what is the actual denominator here? How many cases are there really out there? And it’s kind of hard to tell.””
“So, I’m not sure that the identification of this case tells us a whole lot, other than, yep, it’s circulating,” Moody added.”

to read the full story go to
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/3rd-case-bird-flu-unknown-source-infection-fight/story?id=117740861

By Erika Edwards“

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday urged labs nationwide to determine within 24 hours of admission whether people hospitalized with the flu have seasonal influenza or are infected with the bird flu that’s behind an escalating outbreak in dairy cows and poultry.”to read the full article go tohttps://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-urges-faster-testing-find-human-bird-flu-cases-rcna187870

“CDC urges doctors to speed subtyping of patients hospitalized with the flu to better track H5N1 infections”
By Brenda Goodman, CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/16/health/cdc-urges-doctors-to-speed-subtyping-h5n1-infections/index.html?cid=ios_app

“Accelerated Subtyping of Influenza A in Hospitalized Patients”
Distributed via the CDC Health Alert Network

“CDC has routinely recommended influenza testing for hospitalized patients with suspected influenza. In light of the ongoing avian influenza A(H5) virus animal outbreak in the United States, CDC now recommends subtyping of all influenza A virus-positive specimens from hospitalized patients on an accelerated basis. This accelerated subtyping is part of a comprehensive strategy to identify severe human infections with avian influenza A(H5) viruses, in addition to characterizing seasonal influenza viruses in a timely fashion.”

to read the full press release go to
https://www.cdc.gov/han/2025/han00520.html

“White House’s Pandemic Office, Busy With Bird Flu, May Shrink Under Trump”
By Brian Bennett

“By Inauguration Day on Monday, most of the pandemic office’s staff will have cleared out their desks. The office, officially known as the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, or OPPR, is losing more than half of its 18-person staff as the Biden Administration hands off the duties to a Trump Administration that has yet to fill multiple key pandemic-response positions, according to two Biden Administration officials. “

to read the full article go to
https://time.com/7207599/trump-bird-flu-pandemic-office/

By Public Health On Call

“In this Q&A, adapted from the January 14 episode of Public Health On Call, Stephanie Desmon speaks with Meghan Davis, DVM, PhD ’12, MPH ’08, associate professor in Environmental Health and Engineering, and Andrew Pekosz, PhD, professor in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, about why it’s time to double down on efforts to limit H5N1 transmission among cattle and birds, concerns about cats and other mammals, and how to prevent the virus from gaining a foothold in humans.”

to read the full article go to
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/bird-flu-is-raising-red-flags-among-health-officials

“How Worried to Be About Bird Flu”
By Lora Kelley

“Lora Kelley: We last spoke in April, after a dairy worker became infected with bird flu. At the time, you described your level of concern about bird flu as “medium.” How would you describe your level of worry now?
Katherine J. Wu: At this point, I would upgrade it to “medium-plus.” I don’t think I will upgrade to “high” unless we start to see strong evidence of human-to-human transmission. I am not ruling out that possibility, but we aren’t there yet.”
to read the full article go to
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/01/how-worried-to-be-about-bird-flu/681331/

“CDC tests confirm another H5N1 case from California”
By Lisa Schnirring

“The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed another human H5N1 avian flu case in California, which likely reflects follow-up testing of a presumed positive involving a San Francisco child. The latest confirmation puts the national total since early 2024 to 67 cases, of which 38 are from California.”

to read the full article go to
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/cdc-tests-confirm-another-h5n1-case-california

“Why not making bird flu vaccines available now is a mistake”
By Leana S. Wen

“The good news is that the same companies that made those original vaccines have updated them and already manufactured about 5 million doses of the updated vaccines, and that the administration has contracted with them to produce another 5 million by this spring. Ten million shots of a two-dose vaccine won’t come close to meeting demand if bird flu became a pandemic, but in that horrific situation, the virus likely will have evolved further, and a new vaccine would have to be developed anyway. The initial 10 million can at least be used for those at highest risk.”

to read the full article go to
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/01/16/biden-bird-flu-vaccine-fda/

“How would RFK Jr. handle bird flu? His record on vaccines has experts on edge”
By Will Stone

“The incoming Trump administration will have to prepare for this risk. As H5N1 spills into more people and animals, scientists warn it could evolve to better infect humans and become more dangerous.
Trump and his picks to helm federal health agencies have largely been silent on bird flu. The messaging so far — and the track record of those Trump has chosen to oversee a potential bird flu crisis — is “worrisome,” says Dr. Andrew Pavia, professor of medicine at the University of Utah who’s worked on influenza pandemic preparedness for more than two decades.”

to read the full article go to
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/01/16/nx-s1-5254733/trump-cabinet-picks-rfk-bird-flu