Biden ramps up bird flu spending as scientists fret about H5N1 response. Here’s what to know
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While cases of bird flu in humans have steadily climbed since last fall, health officials maintain the risk to humans is low. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases leaders stressed that timely collaboration among investigators, vigilant disease surveillance to identify and assess viral changes to evaluate the risk for person-to-person transmission, continued development and testing of medical countermeasures including vaccines, and advising people to take precautions to prevent exposure to the virus are all crucial going forward to “help scientists and public health officials investigating HPAI H5N1 to answer the many remaining questions more quickly about how the virus is spreading, evolving, and affecting people, other mammals, and birds.”.
![[Empty shelves for eggs are seen during a shortage at a Sprouts Farmer’s Market grocery store in Redondo Beach, California, on Thursday. Bird flu has depleted the nation’s supply and sent prices skyrocketing]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/03/17/GettyImages-2191628237.jpg)
Bird flu has also been found in pigs, migratory birds, and West Coast cats that drank raw milk and ate recalled pet food. Infections have forced governors in California and Iowa to issue disaster proclamations. More than 70 percent of California’s herds are infected.
![[A researcher performs a rapid antigen test on milk from a dairy cow inoculated against bird flu in an Iowa research facility last July. The government has also begun testing cheese products made with raw milk for the virus]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/18/17/AP24341697334626.jpg)
The majority of human cases have been mild, and in people directly exposed to these animals. Several probable human cases in California, Washington, Arizona, and Delaware have also been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In response, the government has also begun testing raw milk and cheese products made with raw milk. Raw milk products are not pasteurized, a heating process that kills bacteria and viruses such as bird flu. Unpasteurized cheeses and other products made using raw milk are seen as “high-risk” by the Food and Drug Administration.
