'The CDC is taking bird flu VERY seriously': Director Mandy Cohen says agency ... trends now
The CDC is taking the US bird flu outbreak 'very seriously' amid growing fears the virus could jump to humans and cause an epidemic.
A farm worker in Texas became the second American ever to be infected with the H5N1 strain this week after catching it from an infected cow — also the first time that bird flu has been found in cattle.
Mandy Cohen, the agency's director, told NPR that officials were 'monitoring the situation very closely' as farms in six states struggle with outbreaks on dairy farms.
The ease with which this virus is jumping between species raises the risk of it evolving to better infect people, which prompted one expert to tell DailyMail.com it could pose a greater risk than Covid.
Cohen said: 'That just means more opportunity for this virus to mutate and change. And that's what we want to make sure we are continuing to stay ahead of.'
The above shows how bird flu is edging closer to human spillover in the US
Dr Mandy Cohen, director of the CDC, says they are monitoring the situation closely. Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, says they are also in contact with the CDC
It comes global agencies — including the WHO and a panel of experts in the EU — are also raising concerns over the risk of the virus spreading to humans.
The World Health Organization head, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, confirmed yesterday that the organization was in 'close contact' with the CDC.
'Any case of H5N1 is concerning,' he said, 'because it is highly dangerous to humans, although it has never bene shown to be easily transmissible between people.'
Other organizations have also raised the alarm including the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health, which said infections in more and more animals raised the risk of the virus spreading to humans.
The White House has said it is 'monitoring' the situation and the President is being kept up to date.
Dr Cohen said: 'What we've learned through Covid in our experience is: viruses change, and we need to say ahead of it.
'That's why we at the CDC and the whole of US government is taking this very seriously and monitoring the situation very closely.'
She added, however: 'We have never seen a case of human-to-human spread of avian flu here in the US.
'And the version of avian flu that we're seeing in cattle, and in this one human case, is the same strain [H5N1] that we have seen previously in birds.
'We've never seen that spread human-to-human.'
On the Texas patient, she added: 'The person had very mild symptoms. They're recovering well.
'But we want to make sure, again, that we are testing folks who may have been in contact.'
She also said the agency was working closely with state and local partners and veterinarians to detect further infections in cattle.
'This is a new reservoir or a group of animals that we are seeing this virus in,' she said, 'and that just means more opportunity for this virus to mutate and change'.
The CDC released an analysis of the virus infecting the patient in Texas yesterday, revealing it had gained a mutation linked to making it more transmissible in mammals.
But the agency assessed the risk from the virus to still be 'low', adding that this mutation had been recorded previously.
There is no evidence suggesting that the current strains of bird flu can jump from human-to-human.
But amid concerns, federal officials are preparing vaccine supplies in case there are more human cases.
They already have two candidates available, officials told the Washington Post, which could be rolled out within weeks to months if needed.
Officials also insisted they were well-poised to detect if a person has H5N1 through the agency's regular surveillance for seasonal flu at more than 100 public health labs in states across the US.
