How an American agricultural agency became key in the fight against bird flu

Sentce Donald Trump Asomed Office In January, the leading US public health agency has withdrawn preparations for a potential bird flu -pandemic. But it is step back another government agency steps up.

While the US Ministry of Health and Human Services (HHS) previously held regular panties of its efforts to prevent a wider outbreak of a deadly bird flu virus called H5N1 in humans, it stopped largely when Trump joined. It has also canceled the funding for a vaccine that would have targeted the virus. In contrast, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has escalated its fight against H5N1’s spread in poultry flocks and dairy lenses, including by funding the development of livestock vaccines.

This particular virus – a load of avian flu called H5N1 – poses a significant threat to humans, after killing about half of the approx. 1000 people all over the world who testéd positive for the sende 2003. While the pathogen is spreading rapidly in birds, it is poorly adapted to infect humans and is not known to transfer between people. But it can change if it gets mutations that allow it to spread more easily among mammals – a risk that increases with each mammalian infection.

The possibility of H5N1 developing to become more dangerous to people has grown significantly since March 2024, when the virus jumped from migraty usage to milk cows in Texas. More than 1,070 herds over 17 states have been affected since then.

H5N1 also infects poultry and places the virus near humans. Since 2022, nearly 175 million domestic birds have been removed in the United States due to H5N1, and almost all the 71 people who have testéd -positive for it had direct contact with livestock.

“We need to take this serious stomach when [H5N1] Constantly spreading, it is constantly wasting in humans, “says Seema Lakdawala at Emory University in Georgia. The virus has Alredy killed a person in the United States and a child in Mexico this year.

Still, boxes have fallen under Trump. The last registered human case was in February and the number of poultry flocks affected fell 95 percent between that time and June. Outbreaks in dandelions are also stabilized.

It is not clear what lies behind the decline. Lakdawala believes it is partly due to a break in bird migration, which reduces the possibilities of the virus to spread from wild birds to pets. It can also reflect the USDA’s efforts to contain outbreaks on farms. In February, the USDA plan revealed a $ 1 billion plan to tackle H5N1, which included strengthening farmers’ defnences against the virus, such as through free biosecurity assessments. Of the 150 facilities that have reviewed assessment have only experienced an H5N1 outbreak.

During Trump, the USDA also continued its national milk test strategy, which requires the farms to provide raw milk samples for influenza test. If a farm is positive for H5N1, it must allow the USDA to monitor livestock and implementation option to contain the virus. The USDA launched the program in December and has the sale to participate in 45 states.

“The national milk test strategy is a fantastic system,” says Erin Sorrell at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. Along with USDA’s efforts to improve biosecurity measures on farms, milk testing is crucial to containing the outbreak, Sorrell says.

But while the USDA has strengthened its efforts against H5N1, it does not appear that the HHS taxes have followed. In fact, the recent decrease in human boxes may reflect decree monitoring due to workforce cakes, says Sorrell. In April, HHS dismissed approx. 10,000 employees, including 90 percent of staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an office that helps to investigate H5N1 outbreaks in agricultural workers.

“There is an old saying that if you do not test for something, you cannot find it,” says Sorrell. Still, spokesman for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said its guidance and monitoring efforts have not changed. “State and local health department continue to monitor for illness in persons exposed to sick animals,” they said New scientist. “CDC remains obliged to rapid communication information as needed on H5N1.”

USDA and HHS also dive on vaccination. While the USDA has awarded $ 100 million to develop vaccines and other solutions to prevent H5N1’s spread in livestock, HHS canceled $ 776 million in contracts for influenza vaccine development. The contracts – terminated on May 28 – were with the pharmaceutical company Moderna to develop vaccines targeting influenza foutypes, including H5N1, which can cause future pandemics. The news came the same day that Moderna reported that almost 98 percent of the approx. 300 participants who reinforce two doses of the H5 vaccine in a clinical trial had antibody levels that are assumed to be protective against the virus.

The United States has about five million H5N1 vaccine doses stored, but these are made using eggs and cultural-cultural cells, which take longer to produce than mRNA-based vaccines like Moderna’s. The Moderna vaccine would have modernized the warehouse and enabled the government to quickly produce vaccines in the event of a pandemic, says Sorrell. “It seems to be a very effective platform and would have placed the US and others to be on a good foothold if and when we needed a vaccine for our general public,” she says.

HHS canceled the contracts due to concern over MRNA vaccines, which Robert F Kennedy JR country’s highest striking public health official has previously cast doubt on. “The reality is that MRNA technology remains under-tested and we will not spend taxpayers’ dollars repeating the errors of the last administration,” HHS Communication Director Andrew Nixon said in a statement to New scientist.

However, mRNA technology is not new. It has been under development for more than half a century, and several clinical trials have shown that mRNA vaccines are safe. While they have the risk of side effects – the majority of which are mild – this is the case with almost any medical treatment. In a press release, Moderna said it would explore alternative financing paths to the program.

“My position is that we should not look to take the table, and it included any kind of vaccine regime,” says Lakdawala.

“Vaccines are the most effective way to counter an infectious disease,” says Sorrell. “And then to have it in your arsenal and ready to go just give you more options.”