Mutations in Bird Flu Strain Spark Concerns Over Wider Outbreak
Experts are raising concerns about insufficient testing conducted by the CDC, which asserts that the risk to humans “remains low.”
TroibNews 
Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered mutations in H5N1 bird flu infections among hospitalized patients in Louisiana and British Columbia, which may improve the virus’s ability to infect humans, according to the agency.
CDC officials detected several mutations in samples from individuals experiencing severe respiratory illness that “may result in increased virus binding to α2-6 cell receptors found in the upper respiratory tract of humans,” they stated Thursday. Additionally, the agency indicated that these mutations likely occurred in the patients’ bodies after infection rather than during the transition from birds to humans.
This concerning development has heightened fears among public health experts that the virus may be more widespread than the currently reported few dozen cases, potentially presenting challenges for the incoming Trump administration in addressing health and agricultural crises shortly after taking office.
Deborah Birx, who served as the White House coronavirus response coordinator during the first Trump administration, criticized the CDC in a CNN interview on Friday, arguing that the agency has failed to fully grasp the lessons learned from Covid-19.
“Our No. 1 principle in preventing pandemics is detect, and if you go to the CDC website, you can see that they are monitoring more than 10,000 exposures, but they've only tested 530,” she remarked. “That means we're not testing enough. And we know from other viruses that a lot of the spread can be asymptomatic. So we kind of have our head in the sand about how widespread this is from the zoonotic standpoint, from the animal to human standpoint.”
Birx expressed her concern that co-infections during the regular seasonal flu could lead to mutations making bird flu significantly more transmissible to humans.
“We should be providing tests free of charge to dairy farm workers so they can test anonymously and weekly, because they'll want to know if they have both cases of potential flu co-circulating in their own body to protect their families,” she suggested.
Scott Gottlieb, another health policy expert from Trump’s first administration, shared Birx’s concerns about insufficient testing in posts on X this week, asserting that if H5N1 evolves into a pandemic, “The U.S. will have only itself to blame.”
“Agricultural officials did just about everything wrong over last year, hoping the virus would burn out, and it didn’t,” Gottlieb, a former FDA head, stated.
In response to the criticism on testing, the CDC called these claims "out of date, misleading and inaccurate," highlighting that it modified its recommendations in November to include testing for asymptomatic individuals with high-risk exposure to avian flu. The CDC also informed PMG that it has advised hospitals to continue monitoring various types of flu viruses through the summer, rather than scaling back surveillance.
"The result: more than 70,000 specimens have been tested, looking for novel flu viruses; more than 10,000 people exposed to avian flu have been monitored for symptoms, and 540 people have been tested specifically for H5N1," the CDC stated.
H5N1 testing is available at doctor's offices nationwide, which the agency noted significantly enhances testing capacity.
Although California has declared a state of emergency, the CDC reiterated this week that it perceives the risk to humans “remains low” as outbreaks persist among cows, pigs, and other livestock, as well as eggs and dairy products, and wildlife, including humans who may come into contact with them.
Carmen Paun contributed to this report.
James del Carmen contributed to this report for TROIB News
CDC officials detected several mutations in samples from individuals experiencing severe respiratory illness that “may result in increased virus binding to α2-6 cell receptors found in the upper respiratory tract of humans,” they stated Thursday. Additionally, the agency indicated that these mutations likely occurred in the patients’ bodies after infection rather than during the transition from birds to humans.
This concerning development has heightened fears among public health experts that the virus may be more widespread than the currently reported few dozen cases, potentially presenting challenges for the incoming Trump administration in addressing health and agricultural crises shortly after taking office.
Deborah Birx, who served as the White House coronavirus response coordinator during the first Trump administration, criticized the CDC in a CNN interview on Friday, arguing that the agency has failed to fully grasp the lessons learned from Covid-19.
“Our No. 1 principle in preventing pandemics is detect, and if you go to the CDC website, you can see that they are monitoring more than 10,000 exposures, but they've only tested 530,” she remarked. “That means we're not testing enough. And we know from other viruses that a lot of the spread can be asymptomatic. So we kind of have our head in the sand about how widespread this is from the zoonotic standpoint, from the animal to human standpoint.”
Birx expressed her concern that co-infections during the regular seasonal flu could lead to mutations making bird flu significantly more transmissible to humans.
“We should be providing tests free of charge to dairy farm workers so they can test anonymously and weekly, because they'll want to know if they have both cases of potential flu co-circulating in their own body to protect their families,” she suggested.
Scott Gottlieb, another health policy expert from Trump’s first administration, shared Birx’s concerns about insufficient testing in posts on X this week, asserting that if H5N1 evolves into a pandemic, “The U.S. will have only itself to blame.”
“Agricultural officials did just about everything wrong over last year, hoping the virus would burn out, and it didn’t,” Gottlieb, a former FDA head, stated.
In response to the criticism on testing, the CDC called these claims "out of date, misleading and inaccurate," highlighting that it modified its recommendations in November to include testing for asymptomatic individuals with high-risk exposure to avian flu. The CDC also informed PMG that it has advised hospitals to continue monitoring various types of flu viruses through the summer, rather than scaling back surveillance.
"The result: more than 70,000 specimens have been tested, looking for novel flu viruses; more than 10,000 people exposed to avian flu have been monitored for symptoms, and 540 people have been tested specifically for H5N1," the CDC stated.
H5N1 testing is available at doctor's offices nationwide, which the agency noted significantly enhances testing capacity.
Although California has declared a state of emergency, the CDC reiterated this week that it perceives the risk to humans “remains low” as outbreaks persist among cows, pigs, and other livestock, as well as eggs and dairy products, and wildlife, including humans who may come into contact with them.
Carmen Paun contributed to this report.
James del Carmen contributed to this report for TROIB News
