H5N1 - ‘Bird Flu’, Potential for Concern
If you subscribe to a national newspaper, there’s hardly a day that goes by when an article about bird flu (H5N1) doesn’t make the front page. The former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield said it’s only a matter of time before bird flu enters humans and that it will likely have a mortality rate of between 25% and 50%. He said that once the virus gains the ability to attach to the human receptor and be transmitted from human to human, there will be a pandemic. Compare that mortality rate to the Covid mortality rate of around 0.6%.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) globally, since January 2023 until May 3, 2024, 889 cases of human H5N1 were reported in 23 countries.
The CDC website states that wild mammals, foxes, bears, seals and sea lions, and domesticated animals, including cats and dogs, farmed minx and foxes and livestock, such as goats, cows, and alpacas have all gotten H5N1. For some of these animals, the mortality rate is high.
According to the World Organization for Animal Health, between 2022 and 2023, 13 cats in the US are known to have gotten H5N1; most of them lived on dairy farms. Half of these died.
Idaho State Veterinarian Scott Leibsle said that currently, Idaho has the greatest number of dairies with the disease, which was first recognized in March of this year. When asked whether dairy cows survive H5N1 he said that most do, unless they are old or have other co-morbidities. He said typically, the disease runs its course in two to four weeks. He said he is baffled by which dairy cattle get the disease and which don’t. There was an incident involving two commercial dairy facilities, owned by different owners, about 100 yards apart and the cows in one facility all got H5N1, and the cows in the other facility did not.
Leibsle recommended that people with backyard chickens keep their chickens contained. And that they be aware of where they are purchasing new birds to add to their flock because birds in an existing flock may have immunity that new birds don’t have or vice versa. He said backyard chickens should avoid contact with wild birds and that owners should wear protective clothing to make sure that they are not carrying pathogens in or out of where the chickens are contained. This precaution should also be taken if one is raising geese or ducks or other types of birds. He also said that people should avoid drinking unpasteurized milk or dairy products.
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Public Information Officer, A. J. McWhorter said that in Idaho, dairy or poultry workers are not routinely tested for H5N1. He said if a farm worker had potential exposure to H5N1 and becomes symptomatic, laboratory testing is available through the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories. One cannot just go to a local clinic, get tested, and have the test sent to the lab the clinic typically uses.
Health officials are worried that without more testing, there is the potential for a similar outcome to Covid, which passed from person to person rapidly, because there were not enough tests, and few people were being tested in the beginning of the pandemic.
Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke’s Health Care System in Boise, said last week on NPR’s Idaho Matters, “I am very concerned that we still don’t know how this disease is spreading, and we don’t have the cooperation we need from area farmers.” He said he is also concerned because unlike Covid, which primarily killed the elderly and the immunocompromised, H5N1 attacks everyone, despite their age.
Pate said that while it appears that so far, only three people have contracted H5N1 in the US, the mortality rate is 52%. “Michigan is taking the lead on getting the cooperation of its farmers and farm workers,” he said. He said that once many farm workers have been tested, health officials will be able to determine whether a lot more workers have had the disease than we have known about.
Michigan, so far, is the only state that is in a good position to handle H5N1 and that is because they are doing far more testing than other states, and their state government is able to pay farmers whose herds are unable to produce or whose flocks have had to be destroyed. This is besides the 90% the US Department of Agriculture pays farmers for the losses incurred when their dairy cows are out of production, or their chickens had to be destroyed due to H5N1. Farmers in Michigan have been willing to allow inspections from the Department of Agriculture and to allow their farm workers to get tested for free. Idaho farmers have not been as willing to open up their farms to inspections. Only three farm workers, outside of the state of Michigan, have been tested for H5N1. This is problematic because if the virus does start to spread from human to human, the country will be unprepared. So far, no Idaho dairy or poultry farmers have received payment from the US Department of Agriculture.
Dr. Pate said that as the weather heats up, he wonders whether farm workers will be willing to comply with the requirement that they wear personal protective clothing.
Locally, there are no dairies in either Adams or Washington Counties according to Council Extension Office Educator Tyanne Roland. She said that for the fair, which will take place in Council from July 24th through July 27th, there are no FFA kids who plan to bring or show birds or dairy cows. She said there are 4H kids planning to bring birds, and that if the state veterinarian advises against showing or bringing birds, the kids will be able to do so virtually. She said that if the state veterinarian does not make a recommendation, the Fair Board will decide on whether birds are allowed closer to when the fair is to begin.
