Thread by @0bFuSc8

More info (some concerning) on our ongoing, multi-state #H5N1 outbreak in dairy cattle from the always thorough & informative @sciencecohen:


#HPAI
1/science.org/content/articl…

🚨 Concerning 🚨 – Vets relay anecdotes of dairy workers w/flu-like Sx who don’t not want to be tested or seen by docs.

I’m guessing there’s been a lack of clear communication w/these workers (often migrants, non-English speaking or undocumented)

@RickABright #H5N1 #HPAI
2/

Wastewater analysis (ongoing & retrospective) can help add info 👆, would be cost effective & should be relatively straightforward for @CDCgov to implement, as @RickABright has been saying.

#H5N1 #HPAI
3/

🚨 Also concerning 🚨 – Birds tested +ive for the 3.13 strain of #H5N1 & were culled at a MN turkey farm right next to a dairy farm that **refused to test** its cattle.

@RickABright #H5N1 #HPAI
4/

Apparently since USDA hasn't designated #H5N1 in cattle a “program disease” (even though it has in poultry), the fed government can’t cattle movement or require testing & reporting of infected herds or of the humans who work with them.

@RickABright #H5N1 #HPAI
5/

Necropsies on (some) infected dairy cows haven’t found #H5N1 virus in their respiratory tracts.

This, along w/large amount of #H5N1 virus being found in milk, supports direct spread via milk/ milking equipment.

#HPAI
6/

I appreciate USDA scientists are working hard, but the agency’s communications have been lacking —they haven’t been timely or transparent— and will impact credibility.

Mid/disinformation will flourish in an information vacuum.
#H5N1 #HPAI
7/

Good to *finally* get confirmation from FDA that they’re studying the impact of pasteurization (& other processes) on #H5N1 in milk, but this shouldn’t have taken nearly 1 mo into this multi-state outbreak.

Communication must get better, all around.

#HPAI
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