The largest documented bird flu wave is currently rampant on several continents. The pathogen mainly affects birds, but has already been found in many mammals. On Tuesday (March 25th) a year ago came from the USA: For the first time, a form of bird flu H5N1 was discovered in dairy cows, initially in the states of Texas, Kansas and New Mexico. What has happened since then – and what’s next?
What is the current status of bird flu in the USA?
There can be no question of containing the outbreak. According to the health authority CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), more than 12,500 cases have been registered with wild birds in the United States in the United States, around 170 million petrols such as chickens or ducks have been cum. In addition, outbreaks in almost 1,000 herds of cattle in 17 states were detected. 70 infections in humans were discovered.
The cattle often have less appetite and give less milk. According to the authorities, the infection was mostly via wild birds and was then passed on via milking machines and udders.
At the beginning of the year, a person died in the USA for the first time after an infection with the bird flu virus H5N1. According to the authorities, the resident of the state of Louisiana was older than 65 years and also had other health problems.
However, these are only the published numbers. In a small CDC study, 3 out of 150 veterinarians carried antibodies against the virus in September. According to two of them, they had no contact with infected animals or suspected cases.
The virus must therefore be much more common among animals and people than officially known, experts concluded from it. “We do not know the extent of this outbreak in the United States,” said Virologist Seema Lakdawala from Emory University in Atlanta of the “New York Times”. “There are obviously infections that we don’t notice.”
How does the health authority assess the situation for the population?
A transfer from person to person has not yet been proven, according to the CDC. The risk of the general population is low, the infected people are almost exclusively people with a lot of direct contact with cattle or poultry, such as farm workers. The authority generally advises to avoid contact with sick and dead animals.
What about milk, meat and eggs?
Commercially occupational milk, meat and egg products are safe because heat and pasteurization eliminated the virus, emphasize the CDC. However, consumption of raw milk is not recommended. The delivery of sufficient beef meat and milk is not endangered. Cattle could survive an infection and would not have to be killed.
However, around 170 million paving birds have been culled in the United States since the start of the outbreak. This made the price of chicken meat skyrocket, but especially for eggs. In many places, eggs are scarce, supermarkets often only sell one package per customer.
The topic also has political explosiveness: US President Donald Trump had repeatedly blamed his predecessor Joe Biden in the election campaign for the high inflation and promised that everything as President would be cheaper – so far without success.
That brought him ridicule of the Democrats. But the Republican Trump repeatedly emphasized – without evidence – that bidges were to blame that the prices for eggs in the USA were “out of control”.
What do Trump – and RFK Jr. – plan to do?
The outbreak caught the United States in turbulent times. The competent authorities are still partially without leadership after the change of government and are defeated by medium -sized cancellations and cuts. A uniform strategy has not yet been presented, Trump leaves the topic left as far as possible.
One of the central questions concerns vaccinations: While the previous government commissioned the corresponding studies and there was even a reserved approval for a vaccine, the new health minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sees this option much more critical. All of his authorities would advise him against this, Kennedy recently told the TV station “Fox News”. It is possible that chicken traps would be “mutation factories” by vaccinations.
How do experts see the approach of the USA with bird flu?
Many are very concerned about – both for the USA and worldwide. From Germany, sharp criticism comes: Unfortunately, it is not to be seen that measures would be taken that would quickly stop the action, says Martin Beer, Vice President of the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (Fli) on the island of Riems near Greifswald. The Berlin virologist Christian Drosten confirms the impression that more emphasis is placed in the USA to avoid economic damage at short notice than possible further zoo: “It is striking how little data inspection and targeted infection monitoring take place, both in animals and humans.”
Could the bird flu become the next pandemic?
This is completely unclear, says the World Health Authority of the WHO. It is clear, however, that these infectious diseases transferred from animal to person have potential for this – and therefore should be monitored well and should be contained as far as possible.
The currently circulating bird flu virus was for the first time this March with a sheep – another mammal with close contact with humans. As the British Ministry of the Environment, Food and Rural Areas announced, it was discovered in the County Yorkshire. In the company, it had previously been proven in birds.
The WHO warns that every transfer of the virus can lead to mutations that change its properties – and thus possibly also increase the risk potential for people. For example, a new variant in cows recently appeared in the United States. D1.1 was detected in cow’s milk in Nevada. Previously, infections with the virus had been attributed to variant B3.13.
