Last week, the Louisiana Health Department reported the first U.S. death from bird flu. That has caused new concerns about the H5N1 virus, and whether the country is staring at the possibility of another pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports, as of now, 66 people in 10 states have become infected with bird flu. No one in Maryland, Virginia, or the District has become sickened.
Most of the patients infected worked on a dairy or poultry farm. There are a few cases where the source of the infection is unknown. Doctors say most of the patients’ symptoms were mild. However, word of the first American death from the virus is raising some alarm bells.
Current Transmission of the Virus
So far, there are only reports of animal to human transmission.
“What we’re really concerned about is the possibility of human to human transmission, which we have not seen yet. If that changes, then all bets are off. I think that’s a situation where you do have to be very concerned this will turn into a respiratory virus that is going to take advantage of people,” said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“Influenza throughout human history has caused a number of pandemics, and this one has the potential because it is significantly different than most viruses that are circulating in the world, and it is circulating in a high number. The virus has infected billions of animals. There are billions of people on the planet. Once a virus makes its way into the human population, that is new, and so the propensity for a pandemic is possible,” said Dr. Andy Catanzaro, who is the Chief of Infectious Diseases at Adventist Healthcare White Oak Medical Center.
Future of Bird Flu
While there is some caution, Catanzaro and Marrazzo both say as of right now it does not appear inevitable that bird flu will turn into a pandemic because there has not been human to human transmission of the virus.
Bird flu is not a new disease. It has been around for decades. Yet its presence in the wild bird population has increased dramatically in recent years. The virus has now spread to nearly 50 animal species in 26 countries including cows, pigs, and marine mammals. The virus even has appeared in raw pet food.
“There have been several cats that have died after they were fed raw meat presumably contaminated with the virus,” Marrazzo said.
“Bird flu is now infecting people. I do not recall any human infections prior to the last couple of years. So something is changing,” Catanzaro explained.
Two Major Strains
Currently, there are two major strains of bird flu circulating. One strain is infecting wild birds. While the other strain has sickened dairy cows. The CDC is closely watching the spread of bird flu and has made recommendations to protect workers who deal with chickens and birds. The agency also is monitoring the food supply and monitoring wastewater to determine if an outbreak is occurring. Health experts say preparation and vigilance will be keys to stopping the spread of the virus.
Research and Preparations
“I’m proud to say we’ve already started our pandemic preparations at Adventist Healthcare White Oak Medical Center just in case. We are dusting off our protocols from Covid-19. Doctors are making sure there’s an awareness of this virus. We are taking it very seriously. We are keeping a very close eye on the situation as reported to us by Maryland and experts from around the country and the world,” Catanzaro said.
Marrazzo said some researchers and doctors are paying close attention to the possibility they could have a bird flu case on their hands.
“The way the Louisiana case and a couple of other cases in California were caught was because people presented with an illness, got tested for flu, and the flu test came back positive. But the results showed it was not regular seasonal flu. So further testing at public state health labs confirmed it was H5N1. I feel what happened here should be appreciated a bit more because picking up on infections like this is often like finding needles in a haystack,” Marrazzo said.
Signs and Symptoms
Unlike Covid-19 which is part of the coronavirus family that also produces the common cold, bird flu is a type of influenza. Treatments currently exist for influenza such as Tamiflu.
People who have contracted bird flu can have similar symptoms to the flu such as body aches, fever, a runny nose, and overall feeling of malaise. Other patients have experienced conjunctivitis when they have initially become sick. More severe cases of bird flu have led to respiratory problems such as shortness of breath, and needing hospitalization. While the United States has had just one death connected to bird flu, hundreds of people have died from H5N1 around the world.
Bird Flu Vaccine
The federal government does have a stockpile of bird flu vaccine. However, researchers developed those shots more than a decade ago and will likely need updating. Researchers are currently working on a bird flu vaccine. Some companies are using mRNA technology, similar to what they used to develop the Covid-19 vaccines. Those mRNA vaccines for H5N1 are in the early stages of testing.
More Study Needed
Marrazzo said even though bird flu has been around for a while, researchers need to conduct more study on the current virus. They also need to share more information with the scientific community.
“We need to get the sequences of the genes of the viruses. We also have to know where the virus came from, what kind of animal or human? What part of the human? Was it from their eye, or lung, or nasal cavity? It’s all called metadata, and we need to make sure we have access to this information,” Marrazzo said. “The more information we get, the better off we will be,” she added.
Catanzaro also remains hopeful. He said it is important for people not to panic.
“We’ve been through a pandemic already and survived with a virus that we did not know very much about, and it spread worldwide very quickly. We know a lot about this virus, which is good,” Catanzaro said.
“I think we should be very open and honest that respiratory viruses can be prevented with masking and hand washing. From a medical standpoint, it’s really important to explain the facts and prepare Americans that there may be a time when public health experts again will recommend that we take some significant effort to prevent a sustained transmission of bird flu. My belief is anytime we do not talk about a virus, we give it the opportunity to reproduce. So I think, the number one priority is communication,” Catanzaro explained.
Keeping the Public Informed
Marrazzo agrees getting the word out to the public is important and she believes people are more receptive to information.
“People understand immunology in a way that I think was very vague and hard to talk about before. It’s still challenging, but I do think people have learned a lot to arm themselves with more sophisticated information. I see that as an opportunity to talk about the lessons learned and just be as open as we can, as we go forward with presenting people with options and give people as much information as we have,” Marrazzo said.
Both Marrazzo and Cantanzaro urge the public to stay educated and aware about bird flu. They said unlike when Covid-19 first hit, there is more communication taking place among scientists and researchers in the country and around the world.
