The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is admitting they have “concern” that the bird flu which killed 48 million birds this year could jump to humans.
While the virus has not infected any humans thus far, Dr. Michael Jhung, head of the CDC’s Influenza Division, says they are watching to see if the virus begins to mutate.
“These are the first of these types of viruses that we’re seeing,” Dr. Jhung told CNBC. “Because [the viruses are] new, we’re a little concerned because we don’t know how dangerous they could be.”
The CDC says the risk to the public is low but issued an advisory that anyone near sick or dead birds wear coveralls, face masks and eye protection.
“This bird flu outbreak in the United States is not the start of a pandemic,” Dr. Jhung said. However, the CDC is “preparing for human cases of infection with this bird flu virus, even though there have been none.”
“We don’t want to see any, but we are getting ready in case there are cases of human infection,” he added.
Officials with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) say they believe the bird flu that struck this year has been eradicated but are preparing for another wave of the virus this fall.
The deaths of birds and their impact on domestic egg production has caused a massive spike in egg prices. The average price for a dozen eggs has jumped 135% this year because of the shortage in eggs. Some experts say eggs could be as much as $6 a dozen before the market begins to recover.
A chain of grocery stores in Texas is telling their customers they can only purchase a limited amount of eggs because of the bird flu impacting the nation’s egg supply.
H-E-B stores has posted signs saying that customers are limited to three cartons of eggs. There is no limit on the size of the cartons, just the number of cartons.
The restriction is also in place at H-E-B’s affiliated Central Market stores.
“The avian flu this year has impacted a significant portion of the egg laying population in the United States (over 30 million birds),” company officials said in a statement. “This temporary constriction in the US market has caused an increase in price and shortage in availability of eggs.”
The announcement by H-E-B is on the heels of restaurant chain Whataburger announcing they were reducing their breakfast hours because of the number of egg based dishes on their menu.
The Pentagon says an investigation into an accidental shipment of live anthrax to labs in nine states and South Korea was significantly larger and lasted over a decade.
The anthrax, sent from the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, has been shipped to 51 sites in the United States and overseas in the last 10 year. The samples were all believed to have contained irradiated and inactivated virus.
The officials admitted they are testing 400 additional batches and if they are found to be live, the number of locations with live virus could significantly jump.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said that 31 lab workers have ben undergoing post-exposure treatment as a precaution but that the public is safe.
“We know of no risk to the general public from these samples,” Work said.
The admission of the shipments of live anthrax are part of a pattern of accidents involving viruses that have observers questioning the way the military is handling potentially deadly pathogens. A year ago, the CDC admitted a dozen employees may have been exposed to live anthrax and that another lab contaminated a flu virus with the deadly H5N1 bird flu and then shipped it out to another laboratory.
Less than a year ago, live smallpox vials were found in a storage lab at the National Institutes of Health.
The World Organization for Animal Health says the bird flu outbreak that is currently killing millions of birds in the United States has impacted 35 countries around the world.
The major strain in the U.S. that has led to the deaths of 33 million birds since last December is H5N2. The USDA is now admitting that the H5N8 strain of bird flu has also been found in the United States.
The OIE says that the H5N8 strain was discovered in Korea and China before moving to Japan.
“From there the strain probably spread with migratory wild birds to India, Europe, Canada and later the United States of America,” the OIE said in a statement.
The OIE has requested that the 180 member countries apply better biosecurity measures at farms, live bird markets and in trades. They’ve also requested an increase in surveillance to try and stop outbreaks before they can infect more than one location.
The OIE added that while the main focus is on H5N2 and H5N8, the H5N1 virus that lead to a worldwide outbreak in 2004 and also infected humans is still out there. The virus has most recently been found in Africa.
Nebraska’s governor has declared a state of emergency because of a bird flu strain that has contributed to the termination of 33 million birds in 16 states.
Governor Pete Ricketts declared the state of emergency on Thursday after federal officials said a second farm in the state had tested positive for the avian flu virus. The declaration is the fourth by governors after Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.
The action by the governor would allow emergency funds to be release to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture and other state agencies tasked with stopping the spread of the flu virus.
Experts say the H5 strains post little threat to human health but are on the verge of record levels in the U.S.
“Having a second farm in Nebraska confirmed to have HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) is unfortunate but not completely unexpected,” said Nebraska Department of Agriculture Director Greg Ibach. “This follows the pattern we’ve seen in other states when it comes to the spread of the virus.”
Ibach said that 1.8 million birds will be destroyed. The state’s first case resulted in the destruction of 1.7 million.
Four new cases of bird flu have been found in Iowa including one farm with 2.8 million laying hens. Three of the new cases are at commercial turkey farms in Buena Vista and Cherokee Counties.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture says that 19.4 million birds will be destroyed because of the virus, although that estimate did not include the number birds from the commercial turkey farms.
The farms will be quarantined and all the turkeys destroyed according to officials. Every flock within 6.2 miles of the infected farms will be quarantined and tested to see if the virus has spread beyond the four new infected locations.
Governor Terry Branstad has declared a state of emergency so that state agencies can take strong measures to stop the virus from continuing to spread. Cherokee, Clay, Kossuth, Madison, O’Brien, Osceola, Pocahontas, Sac and Sioux counties have all been impacted by the virus.
Scientists speculate that migratory birds such as ducks and geese have spread the virus through their droppings on the farms. Farm workers then unknowingly spread the virus through dust or bird feathers.
The risk to humans is considered low according to health officials.
The outbreak is also causing concern among grocers because there is only seven months to Thanksgiving and it’s possible the farms will not be able to meet the demand for turkeys on the holiday. The cost of turkey could skyrocket because of short supply.
Minnesota has declared a state of emergency because of a strain of avian flu that has led to the elimination of 7.3 million birds. It’s the second state to declare the emergency over the bird flu following Wisconsin.
The highly infectious strain of H5N2 bird flu has been found in 46 different Minnesota farms in 16 counties. The disease has hit around 2.6 million birds.
State health officials are rushing doses of Tamiflu to farm workers or anyone else who has been in contact with the infected birds. As of April 24th, no humans have been confirmed to have been infected with the H5N2 strain.
“There’s no reason for anybody in the state of Minnesota to be concerned about their own health,” Governor Mark Dayton said at a press conference on Thursday after declaring the state of emergency.
The H5N2 strain is so deadly to birds that an entirely infected flock will die within 48 hours.
Two bird flu strains have been discovered in the United States this year. The H5N2 strain is in Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. It has also been identified on farms in Ontario, Canada. The other strain, H5N8, was found in California and Idaho.
The top U.S. egg producing state, Iowa, reported the virus in a farm that has 3.8 million hens.
Chinese scientists have taken the very rare step of making a public announcement concerning a new strain of bird flu.
The Chinese government usually tries to keep news about a new bird flu strain from being released into the public until it is a major health issue. However, a new strain of the virus called H10N8 apparently has shaken health officials to the level they are acting quickly to warn the public.
A 73-year-old woman from Nanchang City in southeast China died after being the first person found with the virus and a second person is confirmed to be infected with the virus. The scientists say the quick transmission makes it a more likely possibility the virus, which they believe transferred from wild birds to chickens, has mutated into a form that can be easily transmitted from birds to humans.
The report of the woman’s death published in the Lancet medical journal said “the pandemic potential of this novel virus should not be underestimated.”
Dr. John McCauley of the World Health Organization said that H10N8 does not cause serious disease in poultry and thus it is difficult to detect. While they don’t believe the virus would transmit well between humans, Dr. McCauley admitted there was not enough information to make a definitive claim.
The H7N9 bird flu has claimed another victim in Hong Kong.
The death marks the third death in the city since the arrival of the virus from China. The male victim, who has recently visited the Chinese city of Shenzhen, was admitted to the hospital less than 24 hours before he died.
The World Health Organization has been quietly using a new term when talking about transmission of the virus between humans. Studies of cases in China show that it is possible to transfer the virus between people so the term “sustained human-to-human transmission” is being used meaning that they don’t see infections happening on a mass scale.
The changes have happened since the virus was spotted in both Taiwan and Hong Kong, raising fears the virus is making its way out of China toward emerging nations that are not ready to handle the deadly virus.
The H7N9 virus was discovered last week at a Hong Kong market resulting in the slaughter of 20,000 birds.
A mutation discovered in a new strain of bird flu has rendered the virus resistant to treatment drugs without limiting its ability to spread.
Most seasonal flu strains often become less transmissible when developing drug resistance, but scientists discovered that the H7N9 bird flu does not lose any of its spreading potential even with drug resistance.
Researchers said they do not believe this will make H7N9 any more likely to develop into a pandemic, but do recommend that doctors should be careful in their use of anti-viral medicines and consider using other drugs instead of Tamiflu to treat H7N9 cases.
The H7N9 bird flu has infected at least 139 people so far in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and has killed 45 people.
