Bird flu continues to spread in birds and cattle
February 5, 2025
Electron microscopy of avian influenza (Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Sixty-four people in the United States are known to have been infected in 2024 with avian influenza (H1N5, a.k.a. bird flu). A 65-year-old Louisiana man who cared for sick birds died last month, and a 13-year-old was on life support due to organ failure but has since recovered. Many cases of bird flu have presumably gone unreported, as testing is not widely available and symptoms are likely not very severe for most, and many agricultural workers have been reluctant to be tested if they are undocumented immigrants.
Both of the sick people in Louisiana had a new strain of bird flu, although the number is too small to determine if that strain is either more transmissible or more severe. The weekly newsletter Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was scheduled to publish articles reporting on avian influenza on January 23, but this issue has not been published due to the Trump Administration health agency communication freeze.
Nature reports that avian influenza appears to have become more transmissible in herds of cows, and Science reports that a change in a single gene could lead to a much higher risk of human-to-human transmission. Here’s a link to a New York Times article on the potential that bird flu will become an epidemic in humans.
Home influenza tests are not likely to identify bird flu, so those who have bird exposure and flu-like illness should seek medical attention to be tested for avian influenza.
While we’re talking about flu…
The rates of seasonal influenza continue to be high. Here is a summary from epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers’ substack Forces of Infection. This shows that flu-like illness represented an increasing portion of emergency department visits in all regions except the West over the last two weeks.
Flu-like Illness Portion of Emergency
Source Rivers, C Forces of Infection January 27, 2025
Implications for employers:
Encourage employees who have respiratory illness to stay home and not come to the workplace to risk transmitting to others.
Availability of sick leave or PTO helps encourage workers who have respiratory illnesses not to come to the workplace where they can infect others.
Workplace transmission of respiratory viruses, including COVID-19 and any type of influenza, can be minimized by better indoor air quality (more air exchanges and more filtration) and by use of masks if there is widespread respiratory disease.
Employers may consider updating the emergency protocols they likely designed during the COVID-19 pandemic, including air quality considerations, cleaning, and triggers to move to remote work where possible.
Review travel policies for employees regarding what to do if they become ill while traveling.
Here’s a link to a post by Patricia Toro, MD MPH from this spring about what employers should know about bird flu and an October post on avian influenza.
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