02/19/2025
Wednesday February 19th H5N1 Update
• Earlier this week, the US reached an agreement to buy 15,000 tons of liquid egg product from the country of Turkey, in order to help ease the increasing egg shortages and skyrocketing prices.
Reuters on egg imports from Turkey:
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/turkey-export-15000-tonnes-eggs-us-amid-bird-flu-disruptions-2025-02-19/
• The FDA has extended conditional approval to Zoetis for a bird flu vaccine for poultry. Some experts are skeptical of how effective it will be, as this vaccine was developed using a different strain of Avian Influenza (H5N2). However, approval of this vaccine is a step in the right direction for combating the out of control spread of HPAI, and testing has indicated promising efficiency. It's worth noting that many other countries have been vaccinating poultry for bird flu for many years, while the US has held off despite having access to various HPAI vaccines since 2016.
CNN on the approval of the Zoetis AI vaccine:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/16/health/bird-flu-vaccine-zoetis-avian/index.html
• At the same time, the administration is working on rolling back standard "cull procedures" for flocks found to be infected with H5N1. Typically when a flock is found to be infected, all birds are culled to prevent further spread, and due to the fact that it is almost always fatal in poultry. Stepping away from this measure potentially opens the door for more significant spread and increases the risk of mutations/recombination with other influenza viruses. To the credit of the current administration, their criticism of how the Biden administration handled this HPAI outbreak is not unfounded. The current H5N1 outbreak has been ongoing since 2022, and response from the Biden admin was lackluster at best. The US was drawing global criticism for our handling of HPAI long before Trump took office (this does not mean that rolling back cull procedures is a wise move).
Newsbreak on the initial plans to roll back cull procedures:
https://share.newsbreak.com/bltre64u
• No mandatory recall has yet been issued for Wild Coast Raw pet food, despite at least four cat deaths being linked to this food. We again urge followers to avoid ALL raw and FDR poultry products at this time.
Washington State Department of Agriculture on contamination of Wild Coast Raw:
https://agr.wa.gov/about-wsda/news-and-media-relations/news-releases?article=42075
• The Trump administration is scrambling to re-hire key USDA officials at the front lines of combating H5N1 bird flu, after DOGE cuts resulted in their "accidental" termination.
DOGE is the subject of widespread criticism for doing a sloppy and haphazard job of making job cuts without any rhyme or reason, terminating some employees with stellar performance reviews while citing "poor performance" as reason for termination. In another remarkably dangerous "mistake", they terminated officials at the National Nuclear Security Administration last week, realized they needed to immediately re-hire them, but struggled to figure out how to reach these terminated individuals to recall them.
These sweeping firings include many key scientific staff at the CDC & NIH, as well as key staff at the FDA and HHS, further weakening North America's response to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza and seasonal Influenza strains alike. This comes at a time when states like Indiana have declared a state of emergency over H5N1, having lost more than 6.5 million poultry to H5N1 since just the first of the year.
NPR on firings at the CDC, NIH, FDA:
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/17/nx-s1-5300052/federal-employees-layoffs-cdc-nih-fda
BBC article covering H5N1 firings:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjev24184vjo
NYT article on fired nuclear staff (gift article - no subscription required)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/16/us/politics/trump-national-nuclear-security-administration-employees-firings.html?unlocked_article_code=1.yE4.ew8T.ouXzKliVIdV9&smid=url-share
Other Health News
• The current administration is debating the cost of destroying about 500 million dollars worth of COVID tests which are intended to be free to the American public. Every American household can order 4 of these tests completely free of charge, with free shipping, from the USPS. If you would like to order yours before the administration moves on the wasteful destruction of these tests, you can do so here: https://covidtests.gov/
• The measles outbreak in Texas continues to grow, with a record 58 cases at the time of publication. 13 individuals have been hospitalized, and most individuals impacted by this outbreak are school aged children. The vast majority of cases are unvaccinated individuals, with 4 cases occurring in vaccinated individuals. This serves as a reminder of two things:
- Widespread failure to vaccinate can lead to significant outbreaks of dangerous diseases.
- Vaccines are a VERY strong line of defense but do not offer guaranteed 100% protection. This is true of most vaccines, from the MMR you get in childhood to your pet's rabies vaccine (this is why fully vaccinated pets are still immediately given an additional rabies booster if contact with the virus is suspected). With many viruses, even if a vaccine is not 100% effective in prevention, it will still lessen the severity of the disease in the vaccinated patient. Vaccines are a vital tool for reducing and even eradicating some very deadly diseases, such as Polio.
Note: if you were born in the 1980's or earlier, be sure to double check that you have received a total of two MMR vaccines (Measles, Mumps, Rubella). Prior to that time period, it was thought that only one dose was needed for maximum protection. Further research indicated that a booster greatly improved efficiency.
Texas Dept of Health & Human Services on measles outbreak:
https://www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/measles-outbreak-feb-18-2025
• The Kansas tuberculosis outbreak sits at 67 active cases, 79 latent cases, and two deaths.
Tuberculosis outbreak update from the American Journal of Managed Care:
https://www.ajmc.com/view/kansas-city-tuberculosis-outbreak-a-deadly-wake-up-call
• The 2024-2025 influenza season is shaping up to be one of the worst in 15 years, with hospitalizations on the rise.
CDC on current Influenza Disease Burden:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu-burden/php/data-vis/2024-2025.html
