New Published Commentary Suggests Enhanced Vigilance Around Bird Flu

Public health experts in the U.S. believe that available treatments and vaccines for H5N1 avian influenza A virus (HPAI H5N1) are “sufficient to prevent severe disease” for the time being, according to the NIH.

A new commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that people find a balance between “enhanced vigilance and ‘business as usual’ with respect to HPAI H5N1.” In 2024, the virus caused “66 confirmed and 7 probable cases of influenza in people in the U.S. and one case in Canada. These human cases have been caused by either the H5N1 type circulating in birds (D1.1) or the type circulating in dairy cows (B3.13).”

The commentary establishes four “keys to controlling the current outbreak.” Those keys are “timely, effective collaborations among investigators in human and veterinary medicine, public health, healthcare, and occupational workers, such as dairy and poultry workers;” a “focus on the Canadian HPAI H5N1 patient, who developed respiratory failure and required life-saving medical intervention and treatment before recovering;” continued development of “medical countermeasures” such as “vaccines and therapies;” and precautions to “prevent exposure to the virus and minimize the risk of infection.”