Spotlight on Beef: 

• There are 7 active cases of New World screwworm in U.S. animals, mostly in cattle, but also a goat and a dog. (APHIS)
  
  
• The CDC activated a formal emergency response plan to NWS on Thursday, including prep for human infections, though they’re rare. USDA is leading the animal response. (Hill)
  
  
• Dairy cattle herds infected with H5N1 bird flu are still increasing in the U.S., with 30 new herds infected in Idaho this week. (Brown Pandemic Center)
  
  
• Beef prices were already at a record high before screwworm was found in Texas and New Mexico, hurting restaurant profit margins. (RBO)

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Health News:

• The DRC reported 635 Ebola cases, up 291 cases from last week. There have been 127 deaths there. Uganda has 3 new cases this week, for a total of 19, though there are rumors of an additional outbreak in a refugee camp. (Brown Pandemic Center)
  
  
• Clover Hill recalled requesón or soft ricotta cheese due to Listeria contamination. There have been 9 cases and 1 death in 3 states. (CDC)
  
  
• Meanwhile, the FDA is investigating a new Salmonella outbreak with 62 cases. (FDA)
  
  
• A measles outbreak in Central Virginia is growing rapidly, with over 100 cases total, mostly in the past month. (WTVR)
  
  
• The FDA expanded sunscreen options with the first new ingredient since the ‘90s. The chemical has been safely used in European sunscreen for decades. (Reuters)
  
  
• Tularemia, a rare disease tied to rabbits and ticks, was found in Colorado. (Yahoo)
  
  
• Trust in the CDC’s health recommendations dropped sharply over the past year, from 77% down to 50% according to a Harvard poll. (Hill)
  
  
• In an anonymous survey of CDC staffers, 95% said that Americans would die because of federal cuts to the agency. (CIDRAP)
  
  
• Some great news: 2 passengers from the MV Hondius ship that previously tested positive for hantavirus have recovered and tested negative. This outbreak is winding down. (CBC)

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Best Question:

Will there be updated flu shots this fall?

Short answer: yes, updated shots will be available and are expected to be covered by insurance.  Longer answer: it’s more complicated than usual. 

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Flu vaccines need to be updated each year because the virus mutates so rapidly. It can be hard to predict which strains will become dominant in the fall, but scientists from around the world meet to look at each hemisphere’s previous flu season and make a best guess about what to include. 

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There will be an updated flu shot for the fall, targeting 3 strains, including the H3N2 strain that wreaked some havoc this past winter. The WHO met to recommend those in February, and the FDA met in March and accepted those recommendations without changes (despite that the U.S. is no longer a part of the WHO). The next step, in a normal year, would be a meeting of the ACIP, the CDC’s vaccine advisory council, to determine which Americans they recommend the vaccine for. But the ACIP is in limbo after a federal ruling basically suspended it due to improper selection of new members. There’s been a lot of politicking about making a new version of the ACIP, but they haven’t met in months and it’s unclear if they will. 

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There’s no reason to worry about vaccine availability, though. Even if the ACIP doesn’t vote or make recommendations, the FDA has approved the updated shots and that’s all manufacturers needed to start producing them. One of the largest insurance trade groups has also reassured the public that private insurers will cover flu shots this fall, regardless of whether the ACIP votes to do so (or even exists, for that matter). 

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In the absence of the ACIP, major medical organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have stepped up to make clear vaccine recommendations. We’ll look to them this fall, but have no doubt that they’ll continue to say that most Americans 6 months and up should get a flu shot every fall. 

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Sources: Atlantic, CIDRAP

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Best Read:

We had fun (and to be honest, didn’t actually ace!) this food safety quiz about home-cooked food… in our defense, we’re pretty used to having cold and hot holding temps when making these decisions…

Eat it or toss it? Put your food safety knowledge to the test - Washington Post (Gift Article)

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