Bird Flu News:
- Another MI worker tested positive for bird flu and was the first to experience respiratory symptoms, including cough without fever, congestion, sore throat, and watery eyes. (CDC)
- Dairy workers can get $75 if they agree to be tested for bird flu, but many say it isn’t enough to make up lost wages and healthcare costs if they test positive. (KFF Health News)
- China reported a fatal case of a different kind of avian flu (H5N6) in a 52-year-old woman who was exposed to backyard chickens. (CIDRAP)
- Flu has spiked in California wastewater tests, sparking concern that H5N1 may be spreading faster than expected among the state’s 1.7 million dairy cows. (SF Chronicle)
- Alpacas in Idaho have tested positive for bird flu at a farm with a sick poultry flock. (CIDRAP)
- The U.S. government is nearing a deal to fund Moderna’s mRNA bird flu vaccine. (Reuters)
- More domestic cats tested positive for H5N1 in NM, MI, MT, and SD, along with more dairy cows and wild mammals. (CIDRAP)
Health News:
- Dengue fever threatens the U.S. due to climate change, among other factors. (NBC)
- Mussels harvested from northern Oregon sickened 20 people due to paralytic shellfish poisoning caused by a natural biotoxin. (OPB)
- Despite not curing COVID, lots of doctors prescribed antibiotics during the pandemic, which has given power to superbugs. (NPR)
- A new tracker helps patients find GLP-1 weight loss drugs amid a shortage. (Axios)
- An outbreak of the rare Salmonella Africana strain has risen to 141 cases, with no source identified yet; an unrelated, smaller outbreak of Listeria is being investigated, as well. (FDA)
- As states loosen childhood vaccine requirements, public health experts’ worries grow. (Stateline)
Mental Health & Substance Use News:
- An animal sedative, medetomidine, is rising as an adulterant to fentanyl. (KQED)
- New breakthroughs in antipsychotic drugs mean they may no longer come with a side effect of weight gain. (Science Daily)
- Late bedtimes may have a negative impact on mental health. (SF Chronicle)
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call 988 or message the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
Best Questions:
Why is it significant that the latest H5N1-positive farmworker had respiratory symptoms?
The third human H5N1 case in the U.S. this year is getting a lot of news coverage, specifically because the sick farmworker had respiratory symptoms, including a cough without a fever, congestion, and sore throat. That’s a major development because respiratory transmission is generally how humans spread flu viruses to each other. When someone has flu virus in their lungs, throat, and nose, it’s much easier to spread viral particles to others than when the infection is just in their eye (as was the case in the previous two positive cases this year). There isn’t any evidence yet that this person has spread it to others, and the CDC says the risk of human-to-human transmission is still low, but it’s certainly a development that raises the risk level overall. We’ll continue to keep an eye on Michigan, which is doing the most surveillance and testing right now.
Sources: STAT, CDC
How quickly can we ramp up vaccine production if bird flu starts to spread between humans?
Ironically, one major concern with ramping up bird flu vaccine production in the event of an outbreak is that making the vaccine actually requires a lot of eggs. Fertilized eggs are still the main ingredient in most flu vaccines, but the egg supply could be threatened as H5N1 continues to spread to poultry farms, which usually results in culling all chickens present and destroying the remaining eggs. The current egg supply is already diminished (which is part of why you’re seeing higher prices in the grocery store), and further spread could reduce supply even more. That’s part of why HHS has identified a partner and is taking steps to produce, fill, and finish vaccine vials for up to 4.8 million doses of our current vaccine, which they say they can do without disrupting production of the seasonal flu vaccine. That’s a big win and will save lots of time getting vaccines into arms in the event of human-to-human transmission.
Sources: CBS, CIDRAP, USDA
Best Read:
For a weekend break from all this bird flu talk, we thought this article on hearing - one of the most common and most expensive workplace injuries - was interesting: