Join us on Thursday, February 13th at 2pm ET (11am Pacific) for a Flash Briefing and Q&A about H5N1 Bird Flu.
We've heard your questions! We're here to give you the latest updates on bird flu - from egg supply to new strains in dairy cows to human case updates. We'll go over why we're not yet panicking about a human pandemic and what it would take for us to raise the alarm.
Register here!
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide or need help, call or text 988.
If you haven’t gotten your flu shot this year, it’s not too late! This flu season is particularly bad. It’s killing people, including kids, and it’s not letting up. Nearly 50,000 people were hospitalized with flu last week, and 10 children died last week alone. This week had the highest test positivity rate in 15+ years, and cases are still sky-high. It takes a few weeks for your flu shot to kick in, but unfortunately, we’re in for a longer flu season than normal because of this double peak. There’s still time to get your flu shot and get meaningful protection from it during this particularly awful flu season. We’ll be real here: this year’s flu shot is just an okay match to the flu viruses that are circulating, and getting the flu shot doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t get the flu. But it can do a lot to prevent you from developing serious illness, being hospitalized, or dying. Flu shots are still widely available at any major pharmacy and many have same-day or walk-in options that are free or very low cost, depending on your insurance. Go today or tomorrow to get your flu shot if you haven’t yet! We promise it’s much less inconvenient to get the flu vaccine now than it would be to go to the hospital for flu later.
Cats are at higher risk than humans for both getting bird flu and dying from it. At two dairy farms in Texas where cows first got sick with H5N1, half of the cats on the farms died within days of drinking infected raw milk. More recently, a house cat in Oregon died after eating raw cat food that contained infected turkey meat, leading to a recall. Outdoor cats are also at risk if they come into contact with sick or dying wild birds. Cats can pass diseases to their human owners. People in the U.S. have died recently from rare diseases like Alaskapox and the Bubonic Plague after scratches from their outdoor cats who likely had contact with sick or dead wild animals. And back in 2016, a veterinarian caught H7N2, a different type of bird flu, after treating dozens of sick cats at a shelter. But in this current H5N1 outbreak, there have been zero reported cases of cats transmitting the disease to humans, even with 70+ confirmed cases in cats. The risk to cats themselves is still low, with the exception of cats on dairy or poultry farms. The risk to cat-owning humans is even lower right now. Cat parents can reduce the risk to their pets by keeping them indoors and not feeding them raw food.
Sources: NPR, Osterholm Update, KFF Health News
Egg-laying hens are more genetically susceptible to H5N1 than chickens raised for meat, and the egg industry is feeling the impact. This is a great, accessible article that dives in a bit more on why we haven’t gone ahead and vaccinated chickens just yet, but why we might need to soon.