Bird Flu News:

• The H5N1 strain in a Canadian teenager has undergone mutations that would make it easier to infect humans, though there’s no evidence that they’ve infected anyone else. (STAT)
• California reported low levels of H5N1 in a child who also tested positive for other respiratory viruses, which may have contributed to their mild respiratory symptoms. (CDPH)
• Oregon has its first case of human bird flu in a poultry worker. (OPB)
• Hawaii reported its first avian flu outbreak in poultry, shortly after nearby wastewater tested positive. (CIDRAP)
• Genetic sequencing of 11 infected farmworkers in WA found no major mutations affecting transmissibility or severity. Some WA workers reported mild respiratory symptoms. (CDC)

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Health News: 

• An E. coli O129:H19 outbreak linked to organic carrots has led to 39 illnesses and one death across 18 states. (NY Times)
• The U.S. has its first case of the more aggressive clade 1b mpox strain, found in a person in California who recently traveled from eastern Africa. (NBC)
• Climate change is triggering a record number of dengue cases. 2024 has seen nearly 3x last year’s already, which was record-setting at the time. (USA Today)
• Resistance to a crucial malaria drug has been found in some severely ill kids in Africa, raising concerns among experts. (Nature)
• Western North Carolina (including Asheville) finally has clean water after Hurricane Helene. (AP)
• A nationwide shortage of IV fluids due to damage to a key manufacturing plant during Helene is forcing hospitals to change their approach to patient hydration. (KFF Health News) 

Mental Health & Substance Use News:

• The simple act of taking deep breaths can reduce stress and anxiety, and some companies are incorporating short breathing exercises into everyday meetings. (AP)
• The stalemate ended on extending telehealth authorization for mental health providers, who can now prescribe for another year. (STAT)

If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call or text 988.

Best Questions:

Are there more recalls or outbreaks than there were or are we just hearing about them more?

The short answer is that there aren’t that many more foodborne illness outbreaks this year than there were in the past few years, at least not in terms of absolute number. So far this year the FDA has investigated 22 outbreaks, compared to 25 last year and 28 in 2022. That said, there have been some very high profile and large-scale outbreaks recently that each have a high number of cases. 

1. Better Testing: We’re all hearing about a lot of recalls that never actually make anyone sick. Instead, routine testing catches contaminated food before anyone gets ill, and then companies voluntarily recall those items. The Food Safety Modernization Act from 2011 also incentivizes operators to report any potential outbreak to the FDA quickly.  
2. Increased Consumer Awareness: Since the COVID-19 pandemic, people have gotten used to testing to know what bug they have. More people are seeking medical attention and testing when they’re sick, leading to more confirmed cases of foodborne illnesses. 
3. More Media Coverage: Food safety stories garner attention, which can make them feel more frequent, even if the actual number is pretty steady. 
4. Complexity of Modern Food Production: The growing reliance on processed foods and the increasing complexity of the food system introduces additional risks at every stage. The more steps in the process, the more chances for contamination. 
5. Regulatory Gaps: Deregulation of the food system and general underfunding for certain USDA and FDA programs has led to gaps, especially in enforcement. That came into play with the recent Boar’s Head Listeria outbreak, where an earlier inspection cited major issues but nothing was done to resolve them. 

The bottom line is that there are absolutely some larger issues with our complex food system and its regulation, but the perceived increase in foodborne illness outbreaks may have more to do with our tracking and media coverage of them than any actual increase. 

Sources: FDA, Eater, NY Times, The Hill

Do the mutations in the sick Canadian teenager make a pandemic more likely?

First, let’s catch you up on what’s going on. There’s a Canadian teenager with no known contact with infected animals who is hospitalized in critical condition with H5N1 bird flu. Genome sequencing of the virus from their sample showed some concerning mutations that could allow the virus to spread more easily between humans. But, crucially, there is zero evidence that it’s spread to anyone from this teen, and it’s more likely that it won’t. Now, we don’t actually know where they got infected, so while it’s possible that they were infected with this mutated strain in the first place, it’s not likely. Instead, the virus probably mutated inside this very sick teen. So, does it raise the risk of a pandemic to know that H5N1 can have these types of spontaneous mutations that make it more likely to spread from person to person and that they’re seen in such a severe case? Yes, definitely - it’s not good news. But does it mean that a pandemic is likely? No. The risk for an H5N1 pandemic is still low overall. If at any moment we see person-to-person transmission, our risk assessment will change and this thing can turn on a dime, but for now, we’re still not seeing any spread between people. 

Sources: STAT, Guardian, CIDRAP

Best Read:

How the CDC could change under the next Trump administration - NPR

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