Avian flu is spreading rapidly among cattle, but public health and infectious disease experts are concerned the United States is too limited in its testing, leaving an incomplete picture of the virus’s spread.
The threat to the general public is currently low, health officials say, and the country’s milk supply is safe. Just one person has been infected.
“It’s critical that we are well-positioned to test, treat, prevent this virus from spreading. I think that’s clear in everything we’re saying,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters recently.
But the outbreak is widespread; officials have found the virus in 42 herds across nine states. Dairy farm workers are at risk every time they are exposed to potentially infected cattle, and viral mutations could cause an outbreak, experts warn.
Cases are potentially being missed, either in people, cattle or both. In past avian flu outbreaks in other parts of the world, the virus typically kills about half the people it infects.
But even if this strain doesn’t pose a significant risk to the public, many experts see the response as the biggest test of pandemic preparedness since COVID-19.
“There are opportunities that have been missed that we could have absolutely applied from the COVID experience. I think there’s still time. We’re not in trouble yet,” said Erin Sorrell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.