Keeping An Eye Out for Bird Flu

Helen Branswell at STAT:  

CDC asks states and cities to keep flu surveillance at peak levels because of bird flu threat

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked local and state health officials Tuesday to maintain flu surveillance operations at peak-season levels over the summer in a bid to remain watchful for any signs of human-to-human spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

"Flu surveillance activity is generally conducted at low levels during the late spring and summer months, in recognition of the fact that as temperatures rise, transmission of seasonal flu viruses drops to minimal levels in the Northern Hemisphere.

"But in a call with state and local health authorities, Nirav Shah, CDC’s principal deputy director, said flu surveillance efforts should not be allowed to go into off-season mode this summer, given the need to detect human infections with H5N1, if they are occurring.

“The bottom line is that in light of the ongoing outbreak of H5 among domestic dairy cattle, we want to maximize our chances of spotting a case of novel influenza in the community and minimize the risk that a case of H5N1 would go undetected in the community,” Shah told STAT in an interview after his call with leaders of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, the Association of Public Health Laboratories, the Big Cities Health Coalition, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials."

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Better get ready for the usual "It's only a cold", "It's mild", "It's a hoax", and other familiar minimizations.