Bird flu needs more attention from the government
I’ve said it before and I will repeat it now: The bird flu has gotten out of hand and should have been dealt with before human cases started to emerge.
According to an article published Jan. 2 in Newsweek there have been 66 confirmed human cases of bird flu in the U.S. and seven probably infections.
Now we have the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions warning of a “risk of coinfection with a human seasonal virus and avian virus at the same time, and the theoretical risk that reassortment between the two could result in a new virus.”
This was after news that mutations of bird flu severely sickened a person in Louisiana and a teenager from Canada.
“Such dual infections, while very rare, could theoretically result in genetic reassortment of the two different influenza A viruses and lead to a new influenza A virus that has a different combination of genes, and which could pose a significant public health concern,” the CDC said.
Of particular concern are dairy and poultry farms and the people who work there. But a detection of H5N1 in backyard pigs has increased the risk in other areas where animals probably came in contact with infected wild birds.
Fortunately, large hog farms practice extensive biosecurity measures to protect hogs from various diseases including African swine fever.
Although the CDC has said that the risk to the general public from an outbreak remains low, should it really have been allowed to spread to humans in the first place?
I’m no expert but one is Luciana Borio, physician and former director for medical and biodefense preparedness policy at the National Security Council is and he has called on president elect Trump to take action against the disease.
In an op-ed in The Washington Post Borio said, “So far, most human infections have been traced to occupational exposure in dairy or poultry farms, resulting in mild illness. None of these strains has shown an ability to transmit efficiently among people. However, research shows that the virus might be just a few mutations away from adapting to humans. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team would be wise to prepare for quick action after he takes office. The Biden administration has been mishandling the outbreak in cattle for months, increasing the possibility of a dangerous, wider spread.”
Borio said the avian influenza or bird flu first identified in 1878 and has been around in some form ever since.
Borio continues, “A program to compensate dairy farms upon finding infected cattle wasn’t launched until this past summer — a crucial step to ensure that livestock owners aren’t saddled with financial hardship as they identify compromised herds. Yet compensation still falls short of offsetting the losses that farmers incur when they must isolate or cull infected herds and suspend milk production. Contracts to advance development of updated vaccines for the U.S. strategic stockpile — which could protect the public if a pandemic arose — weren’t awarded until three months ago.”
I believe if this flu were something that originated anywhere but on farms it probably would have been of bigger concern to the government. If we learned any thing from COVID and the ensuing disaster it caused in the world, we need to take every precaution when it comes to health issues.
