USDA and HHS Detail New Actions to Halt Spread of Bird Flu

USDA and HHS have released updates on the whole-of-government approach being taken to rapidly respond to the ongoing bird flu outbreak.

An “epi strike team” and a “case management team” have both been deployed to California to assist their efforts, as a total of 137 dairy herds in the state have tested positive for H5N1 so far. USDA has transferred $824 million to fund programs design to respond to the outbreak in California, meant to cover costs for “vet fees and shipping costs associated with testing herds” among other things.

HHS has been working with California “to prepare for a potential outbreak” in humans even before cases began to rise in California dairy herds. CDC has deployed a “multilingual epidemiological field team to assist with the investigation of H5N1 infections in both dairy cows and farm workers who may have been exposed to infected cattle” in the state.

In Washington state, USDA is “providing technical support and resources to help on-the-ground response efforts, following established processes for detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry.” CDC is also “deploying a team to Washington to support its response efforts at a commercial egg farm in the state. The agency is awaiting specimens from Washington for confirmatory avian flu testing and will then assess further action.”

Meanwhile, efforts continue to be taken nationally for trials for “vaccine candidates designed to protect dairy cows from H5N1.” Other studies are being undertaken to attempt to understand “H5N1 in raw cow’s milk received by dairy processing facilities across the nation” in order to protect the commercial milk supply.

HPN has covered the bird flu outbreaks several times this year.