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California declared a state of emergency this week over H5N1, not so much because of its impact on humans, but because of the way it’s ravaging the state’s dairy cows. Some farmers there are calling it “COVID for cows.” There have been about 650 infected dairy herds in California, which is the largest dairy producer in the U.S. and has seen about a 4% drop in milk production. Until this past week, nearly all of the infected herds were in the Central Valley, the center of dairy production in the state. But after a few Southern California farms tested positive, the governor declared an emergency, which frees up budget and flexibility to dedicate staff and supplies to the response effort. There’s also an egg problem - California has lost 2.5 million egg-laying hens since early November, and shortages are only getting worse.
This announcement comes on the heels of the first severe U.S. case of H5N1 in a patient in Louisiana who had contact with sick birds. That person is over 65 and has other underlying medical conditions, which may explain the severity of their infection when all other U.S. cases have been mild. The overall pandemic risk to humans remains low right now because there has been no person-to-person spread, but if the virus continues to spread unchecked in cows and poultry, it increases the chances for viral reassortment and mutations that might allow it to spread more easily between humans. We’re eagerly watching to see what California will learn about the virus and how it’s spreading between farms with the increased monitoring that comes with an emergency declaration.
Sources: NPR, Washington Post, AP, NYT
No. This is a common rumor that's been circulating again after President-elect Trump repeated it last week on TV. The theory is that we overwhelm children’s immune systems by giving them multiple vaccinations, and that causes other conditions, like autism. But there is zero evidence for this theory. Vaccines cause a much smaller immune reaction than the kinds kids have every day when they interact with germs at kindergarten or on the playground. And it’s true that kids are fantastic at naturally building up their own immunity over time - they get exposed to some bug, have a fever and runny nose, get better, rinse and repeat dozens of times throughout their childhood. But there are some diseases that kids aren’t exposed to often or can’t slowly build immunity to, because when they are exposed, it can be incredibly dangerous. Polio and measles are two great examples. Both can disable or kill kids who contract them, and the vaccines to prevent them are incredibly effective. The idea that vaccines are linked to autism has been fully debunked, and was based on a single article with falsified data from 1998 that was later retracted by the medical journal that published it. The fact remains that autism is rising and we don’t know why, but there’s no evidence that shows that vaccinations have any effect on autism whatsoever, or that they can “overload” a kid’s immune system.
This study made headlines across the globe and had people tossing their spoons and spatulas. But a math mistake may have actually overstated the problem by 10x: