Wisconsin dairy farms as "dry tinder" for H5N1 outbreak

Photo credit:  Wikipedia

Headline:  Slate, 12/31/2024

Like many, I had hoped that the farm-associated H5N1 outbreaks of 2024 would be under control by now. They’re not. 

The CDC anticipated this and was wise to introduce an initiative to vaccinate farmworkers against seasonal flu earlier this year. The vaccines decrease infections, albeit temporarily and not entirely, so they are a useful dampener on the chances of a coinfection. The program delivered 100,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine to 12 participating states and was paired with efforts to bolster access to PPE and expanded bird flu testing. Unfortunately, potential problem states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and New York—where there are also large numbers of dairy herds—were not among them. Those states have not had outbreaks … yet. That makes them potential dry tinder for the virus to burn through.  [emphasis added]

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