Bird Flu News:
- Two severe human cases of bird flu were confirmed in Wyoming and Ohio, both requiring hospitalization, and both had contact with sick birds. (CBS)
- National milk testing has identified a third spillover event in a dairy herd in Arizona that hadn’t shown symptoms before testing. (CIDRAP)
- A new study suggests wind may be partly to blame for bird flu spread between farms. (CNN)
Health News:
- The measles outbreak in West Texas has more than doubled to 58 cases. (TX DSHS)
- The U.S. is now facing the worst flu season since 2009. (Axios)
- Around 1,000 NIH employees and 750 employees at CDC have been fired, though nearly double that number at CDC were told Friday that they’d lose their jobs. (NPR)
- An urgent flu analysis selected for the Health Action Network sent out to clinicians, is stalled at CDC. (KFF Health News)
- Federal funding will be withheld for schools that require COVID vaccines for students, affecting 15 colleges and no high schools right now. (NY Times)
- Gender ideology warnings have been added to CDC webpages restored after a court ruling. (Washington Post)
- Illnesses from contaminated food increased by 25% in 2024, and instances of severe illness nearly doubled. (CIDRAP)
- There’s a global shortage of safe and affordable medical oxygen - 370 million people need it worldwide, but less than 1 in 3 get it. (NY Times)
- The FDA expanded its alert for norovirus-contaminated oysters from Louisiana to include additional states where they were shipped. (FDA)
- As sports betting has soared, more people are searching online for help with gambling addiction. (NPR)
If you need support with gambling, call 1-800-GAMBLER. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call or text 988.
Best Questions:
Two more people were hospitalized with bird flu. Does that mean it’s getting more severe for humans, or raise the pandemic risk?
No, not necessarily. Over the past week, we’ve heard of two more human cases that required hospitalization. In Ohio, a farmworker who had contact with deceased commercial poultry was diagnosed with probable H5N1 in the hospital and later released. In Wyoming, a person had contact with an infected backyard flock and is currently hospitalized in nearby Colorado. It’s not clear which genotype of bird flu these folks have. This likely doesn’t raise the overall risk of a pandemic because even though these are more severe cases that required hospitalization, they are both in people who had extensive, direct contact with sick or dead birds and, therefore, may have been exposed to lots of viral particles. As we test more people, we expect to find more one-off cases of animal-to-human transmission. The good news is that we haven’t heard anything about person-to-person transmission in either of these cases or any other U.S. cases so far during this outbreak.
Sources: CBS, Ohio.gov, CIDRAP
Should we talk to our employees about measles in West Texas?
Yes! It’s incredibly important to use your role as a trusted messenger to share good, reliable health information. This is a great opportunity for proactive communication from employers with locations in the South Plains region of Texas, including the cities of Seminole and Lubbock or nearby Lea County, New Mexico.
Here are some talking points you can share with your teams in West TX and NM:
- There’s an outbreak of measles in the South Plains region of Texas and neighboring Lea County, New Mexico.
- There are 58 cases in TX and one in NM, mostly in children.
- 45 of these cases are in Gaines County.
- All of the sick people are unvaccinated or don’t know their vaccination status.
- Most of us were vaccinated as children with the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine and are immune to measles. The vaccine is generally very effective (97%), although its effectiveness may weaken over time.
- Measles is not a foodborne illness – it’s easily spread when someone who has it coughs or sneezes near someone who isn’t vaccinated.
- It remains airborne for up to two hours after the infectious person leaves a room.
- Measles is contagious to others for 4 days before a rash appears and for four days after it’s gone.
- Symptoms include high fever starting about 10-12 days after exposure, red and watery eyes, cough, and runny nose. 2-3 days after symptoms begin, small white spots may appear inside the mouth, and a few days after that, the typical red rash appears, often starting on the face or head.
- If you develop any symptoms, please do not come to work and call your medical provider immediately.
- The risk of contracting measles is very low if you are vaccinated.
- Finding out if you’ve been vaccinated will help you better understand your risk.
- There is no particular risk to anyone here, just a greater risk of measles because of the outbreak in our South Plains community. We want to share the best health information with our team to keep you informed.
Sources: TX DSHS, CDC
Best Read:
Something we really appreciated this week was epidemiologist Caitlin River’s NY Times op-ed and newsletter reminding us that, despite the narrative and overall declines in uptake, vaccines are actually still very popular with Americans. This year’s brutal norovirus season was so miserable that people might line up for a noro shot when one becomes available. At least six noro vaccines are in clinical trials right now.
