“But scientists are clear-eyed about the risk ahead.
With reservoirs of virus persisting in dairy cattle, poultry and wild birds, there are ample opportunities for spillover into humans. Meanwhile, the virus is turning up in raw milk on store shelves. And flu season is raising the troubling prospect that bird flu could commingle with seasonal influenza.
“This virus is not so easy to get rid of,” says Dr. Jürgen Richt, a veterinary microbiologist at Kansas State University. “We will have to live with it for some years to come.““
“I Ran Operation Warp Speed. I’m Concerned About Bird Flu”
By David A. Kessler
“No one knows how many mutations will be required to set off human-to-human respiratory spread. That could require many mutations and may never happen. But we could also be just two or three mutations away. If the virus begins to transmit efficiently among humans, it will be very difficult to contain, according to the Johns Hopkins assessment, and “the likelihood of a pandemic is very high.”
The incoming Trump administration needs to be prepared.”
“The USDA, CDC, and FDA can all credibly claim that they should be leading the response, but it doesn’t seem like any one organization has particularly taken up the mantle as the one in charge. USDA regulates agriculture; CDC is concerned about the spillover risk to human health; the FDA regulates milk. And they’ve all been involved, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find one organization that would say they are running lead on this — that they are the H5 influenza czar overseeing and coordinating all aspects of the response.”
“President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University physician and economist known for his controversial views during the Covid-19 pandemic, as director of the National Institutes of Health.”……..
“Bhattacharya was one of the main authors of the Great Barrington Declaration. The open letter, published in October 2020 and signed by thousands of public health scientists, argued against lockdown measures and in favor of a hands-off approach to the pandemic, relying on letting low-risk people build up herd immunity — a suggestion then-NIH Director Francis Collins called dangerous.”
“If you’re a public-health person and you’re trying to make a decision, you have this very narrow view of what the right decision is, and that is something that will save a life,” Dr. Collins explained in a Covid discussion this summer for Braver Angels, an outfit that aims to bridge political divides. A video of the discussion surfaced this week on X.com.
Dr. Collins continued: “So you attach infinite value to stopping the disease and saving a life. You attach a zero value to whether this actually totally disrupts people’s lives, ruins the economy, and has many kids kept out of school in a way that they never quite recovered.” This, he explained, “is a public-health mindset,” which was “another mistake we made.”
“Dr. Bhattacharya, a Stanford University medical economist and outspoken opponent of lockdowns, masking, school closures and other Covid-19 mitigation measures, and Mr. Trump’s other health picks have one thing in common. They are all considered Covid contrarians whose views raise questions about how they would handle an infectious disease crisis.”
“Bird flu has been detected in a batch of raw milk sold in California stores, and the state’s department of public health said Sunday that the public should not drink it.”
“No one has become sick nor contracted the disease from this lot of raw milk, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) noted. However, “out of an abundance of caution, and due to the ongoing spread of bird flu in dairy cows, poultry, and sporadic human cases, consumers should not consume any of the affected raw milk,” the agency said in a news release.”
H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers.
While the current public health risk is low, CDC is watching the situation carefully and working with states to monitor people with animal exposures.
CDC is using its flu surveillance systems to monitor for H5 bird flu activity in people.
“Health officials on Friday confirmed bird flu in a California child — the first reported case in a U.S. minor.
The child had mild symptoms, was treated with antiviral medication and is recovering, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in announcing the test results. State officials have said the child attends day care and lives in Alameda County, which includes Oakland and surrounding communities, but released no other details.
The infection brings the reported number of U.S. bird flu cases this year to 55, including 29 in California, the CDC said. Most were farmworkers who tested positive with mild symptoms.”
“Failure to control H5N1 among American livestock could have global consequences, and this demands urgent attention. The United States has done little to reassure the world that it has the outbreak contained.”…………………..
“The world cannot afford to gamble with this virus, letting it spread in animals and hoping it never sparks a serious outbreak — or crossing our fingers that its effects won’t be serious in people. Time will tell. I hope we are not watching the start of a new pandemic unfold, with both the American and the international communities burying our heads in the sand rather than confronting potential danger.”
Different Virus, ‘Same Mistakes’: Birx Sounds Alarm About Bird Flu Response
Deborah Birx a physician who served as former President Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, warned that the United States is making the “same mistakes” with the bird flu as it did with COVID-19.“This is why I’m really concerned because we’re making the same mistakes today that we made with COVID. And what do I mean by that? We’re not testing to really see how many people have been exposed and got asymptomatically infected,” Birx told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on Tuesday.”
to read the full article go to https://kffhealthnews.org/morning-breakout/different-virus-same-mistakes-birx-sounds-alarm-about-bird-flu-response/
Dr. Jonathan M. Metsch is: Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and previously Affiliated Faculty, Executive MBA in Healthcare Administration, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, C.U.N.Y., and Adjunct Professor at Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration and Rutgers School of Public Health. Jonathan was a Commissioner of the Hoboken Historical Preservation Commission (2017-2023), was Chairman of the Institutional Review Board of Stevens University (2016-2023) and is an active Taproot and Catchafire volunteer consultant. Jonathan served as a Board member of the Hoboken Shelter, Jewish Family Service of MetroWest and as a Leadership Newark Coach. He was the Founder of Hudson Cradle and served on the Board of the Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center, and the Steering Committee of MetroWest CARES. From September 2009 to November 2011 Jonathan was a Commissioner of the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority, part of the team that “privatized” this City-owned hospital. He was also the organizer and co-chairman of the Hoboken H1N1 Swine Flu Task Force. Metsch was a UJA-Federation of New York MAP consultant, previously serving: on the Board of Hillel at Baruch College; as a member of the Jewish Community Centers review team; on the Board of Associated Camps; and as a member of the Food Sustainability portfolio review group. While serving as President and CEO of LibertyHealth/ Jersey City Medical Center (and Associate Dean for Jersey City Medical Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine) from 1989-2006, Jersey City Medical Center: was designated as a Regional Perinatal Center, Level II Trauma Center, Teaching Hospital Cancer Program, a Children’s Hospital, and a Medical Coordination Center (for statewide disaster preparedness); started cardiac surgery/ interventional cardiology; and became a major teaching affiliate of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. A total replacement hospital was opened on a new site in 2004. Metsch was Chairman of the Board of the New Jersey Hospital Association and served on the Boards of the Seton Hall University School of Graduate Medical Education, the Hudson County AIDS Consortium, the State Health Planning Board, the Hudson County Perinatal Consortium, and The Hospital Alliance of New Jersey. He served on the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Hospitals, the Task Force on Affordability and Accessibility of Health Care in New Jersey, the Governor’s Advisory Council on AIDS, and the Department of Human Services HMO-Hospital Workgroup. From 1972-1989 Jonathan worked at The Mount Sinai Medical Center (NYC) as: a faculty member of the Baruch-Mount Sinai Graduate Program in Health Care Administration; Administrator of Mount Sinai Services, City Hospital Center at Elmhurst; Associate Dean for Administration of Mount Sinai School of Medicine; and Senior Vice President for Administration, MSMC. From 1967-1970 Jonathan was on active duty in the U.S. Air Force leaving with the rank of Captain. Dr. Metsch earned: a B.A. from Queens College of the City University of New York; an M.P.A. from the University at Albany, State University of New York; and a Dr.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (from which he received the School of Public Health’s 2005 Harriet Hylton Barr Distinguished Alumni Award).
