Discussion thread: H5N1 avian flu in US dairy cows including human cases (poultry, dairy workers) - March 24, 2024 +

[sharon sanders]

FluTrackers.com
@FluTrackers
·
Now


We do not have the ability to retract media stories from other
sources - like ABC news or the CEO of a dairy farm.

Contact the originating source for a correction/retraction.

We do not respond to threats on our credibility. 18 yrs online speaks for itself.

Please unfollow.
​

 

[Pathfinder]

I agree Sharon. It is not for FT to retract a story, but for the media who wrote it. ABC has yet to make a correction to their article, even though it was published two days ago.

Anja Raudabaugh claims that she was misquoted.

She responded on her X account with the following:
...
Daniel A. Walker @danwalker9999
·Oct 19
H5N1 has *not* killed 10-15% of the cows in California.
@KassandraABC30
It is likely a misunderstanding of the sentence highlighted below: 10-15% of cases in *some* herds.
Culling = sent for slaughter, perhaps due to low milk production post-infection.
https://cdqap.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/cdqap_newsletter_september_2024.pdf

​

Anja Raudabaugh@AnjaRaudabaugh
·Oct 20
You are correct.

Anja Raudabaugh@AnjaRaudabaugh
·Oct 20 Replying to @KinCONN @CDCgov and 2 others
Of the dairy cow population infected, we have seen approximately 10-15% mortalities. Which includes early culling and those succumbing to the virus. The stat is grossly inflated the way it was reported
...
Euan Arnott@Nucleocapsoid
·Oct 20
Anja Raudabaugh is also here on Twitter, so could perhaps clarify if this apparent media quote about 10-15% of *all* CA dairy cows having died of H5N1 is indeed accurate?
Suspect there has been some mis-speaking or mis-quoting here, @AnjaRaudabaugh ?

Anja Raudabaugh@AnjaRaudabaugh
·Oct 20
No problem. What I said to the reporter was that of the group of cows infected by HPAI, there is a mortality rate of approx 10-15%. This includes those animals who have succumbed to the virus and early culling. Some farms have fared than that, others worse

https://x.com/AnjaRaudabaugh/with_replies​

 

[sharon sanders]

Thanks Pathfinder for posting that. We cover stories and retractions/corrections.

Don't threaten us. It is ridiculous. And a desperate look.

Screenshot from this morning when I first saw this below. It must have been tweeted around 11 pm ET:

 

[Pathfinder]

As bird flu outbreaks rise, piles of dead cattle become shocking Central Valley tableau

By Susanne Rust
Staff Writer
Oct. 20, 2024 3 AM PT
...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a program to pay back farmers for production loss due to the virus. The program covers the three weeks of production lost by a cow when it is removed from the milking herd to recover, as well as the seven days afterward when production is still low.

But there is no program to pay farmers or dairy workers who are affected by the virus, which is a concern for infectious-disease experts, as well as farmworker advocates who say there is no incentive for dairy workers to report symptoms and isolate for 10 days (the current guidance).

“The majority of dairy workers in California have no protections. Most of them are immigrants. And I would say at least half of them are undocumented,” said Elizabeth Strater, national vice president and director of strategic campaigns for United Farm Workers.

“These are folks that don’t have a particular relationship of trust with state and federal government officials.”
...
“These workers are on the front lines of infectious outbreak, and if they somehow get tested and are tested positive, then they’re going to be looking at something that is financially a disaster,” she said. “Most people in the United States don’t want to miss two weeks of pay, right? Let alone these people who are already ... some of the poorest people, and with the least protections. Without a safety net.”
...
Although the number of workers so far reportedly infected with H5N1 remains low, conversations with Tipton residents suggested it’s probably larger than has been

https://www.latimes.com/environment...ead-cows-become-morbid-central-valley-tableau
​

 

[sharon sanders]

Watch someone bash the LA Times now demanding a retraction......

 

[sharon sanders]

Thanks Pathfinder for posting that. We cover stories and retractions/corrections.

Don't threaten us. It is ridiculous. And a desperate look.

Screenshot from this morning when I first saw this below. It must have been tweeted around 11 pm ET:

This peep is still arguing....misstating the time that we posted the dairy CEO's denial which was 7:42 am ET. We did not fail to post her denial:




Daniel A. Walker
@danwalker9999·3h

You threaten your own credibility by repeating an absurd fiction
that H5N1 has killed 255,000 cows in California, and then failing
to correct. Difficult enough to track the real threat of H5N1.
Happy to unfollow a source that spreads misinformation.

​
--------------------------------------------------------------

We followed the denial post here with a post on X 4 hours ago. An hour before the peep above posted his comment:

FluTrackers.com
@FluTrackers
·
4h


The dairy company CEO has clarified that % refers to "Of the dairy
cow population infected". Blames bad reporting. ABC has not
retracted, however.
https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/the-pandemic-discussion-forum/987828-discussion-thread-h5n1-avian-flu-in-us-dairy-cows-including-human-cases-poultry-dairy-workers-march-24-2024?p=999021#post999021… h/t Pathfinder

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And, fyi, he still is following us.....LOL

Expect a lot more of this. This is a high stakes situation just like the China lab leak controversy. Scientists posted on FT. Then asked that their posts be hidden for awhile because they were afraid. A couple of scientists out of China sent us emails to change the title of their early Hunan paper on this site. I am guessing there was some gov pressure at home. We were repeatedly insulted....credibility...future of the site questioned....etc....ridiculous empty threats....

I am sure there is all kinds of wringing of hands in a lot of places.

We do not accept and government or corporate $. We do not sell anything. We do not take any ads. We are not political or religious.

I personally do not have a resume or linkedin account. This is not my job. There is no way to threaten me with $ or any career detrimental impact.

And it is going to stay that way.

Do your worst online bashing - we have had actual government actors do that to us already....it is water off a duck's back.

Yadda, yadda. Have a nice day.

​​

 

[blacknail]

I think the Vanity Fair article summarizes the politics of the situation very well:

Inside the Bungled Bird Flu Response, Where Profits Collide With Public Health

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/inside-the-bungled-bird-flu-response

 

[Pathfinder]

Hat tip to Lance for posting this CIDRAP report:

Avian flu biomarker was circulating in Texas wastewater weeks before outbreaks in cattle

News brief
Today at 1:21 p.m.
Mary Van Beusekom, MS

Wastewater surveillance with an H5N1 avian flu probe retrospectively deployed to investigate unseasonably high influenza A in Texas in early 2024 was able to detect the virus 2 weeks before cases were reported and a month before the virus was confirmed, which may have been able to speed the public health response, according to study results​ presented at IDWeek.

Researchers on the WastewaterSCAN team at Stanford University retrospectively developed and deployed a probe for a biomarker of avian influenza to plants across the United States. WastewaterSCAN monitors the levels of 11 viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in 190 municipal wastewater systems three times a week to inform local, regional, and national public health responses.

'Critical' public health tool

The probe detected the biomarker for H5N1 at three Texas treatment plants, with two confirming that animal protein had already left processing facilities such as dairy farms. The researchers then compared the results with clinical data on flu-related healthcare visits.

Every second counts when responding to emerging pathogens—that's why wastewater surveillance is a critical tool in the public health toolbox.
Alessandro Zulli, PhD
...
https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum...rap/998957-cidrap-news-briefs-october-21-2024
​

 

[Pathfinder]

Hat tip to ​blacknail
Related to posts #386 and #388

WastewaterSCAN Dashboard
Influenza A, Turlock, CA

​
https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tra...QtMTAtMjKKAQZiZDVjZmY=&selectedChartId=bd5cff

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WastewaterSCAN Dashboard
H1, Turlock, CA

https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tra...0xMC0yMooBBmJkNWNmZg==&selectedChartId=bd5cff

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WastewaterSCAN Dashboard
H3, Turlock, CA

​
https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tra...0xMC0yMooBBmJkNWNmZg==&selectedChartId=bd5cff

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WastewaterSCAN Dashboard
H5, Turlock, CA

https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tra...0xMC0yMooBBmJkNWNmZg==&selectedChartId=bd5cff
​​​

 

[Pathfinder]

Hat tip to blacknail

CDC Report on Missouri H5N1 Serology Testing
...
This spotlight was posted on October 24, 2024.
...
Conclusion of Missouri Investigation:

The 5 health care workers were definitively seronegative against H5 in all assays, which means they were not infected with H5. This finding rules out person-to-person spread between the index MO case patient and any of five health care workers. Symptoms reported by these contacts were not caused by their exposure to this patient.

Testing results of the sera from the MO case patient and their household contact were similar: both showed evidence of an antibody immune response to H5 in only one assay (that detects H5 neutralizing antibodies), but not on the other serologic assays used to detect infection. The weak immune signal suggests that it is possible that both of these people may have been exposed to H5 bird flu despite the fact that they did not meet accepted thresholds for seropositivity. These similar immunologic results coupled with the epidemiologic data that these two individuals had identical symptom onset dates support a single common exposure to bird flu rather than person-to-person spread within the household. Intensive epidemiologic investigation has not identified an exposure to an animal or animal product exposure to explain these possible infections, and these serologic data cannot further elucidate the exposure leading to these possible infections.
...
https://www.cdc.gov/bird-flu/spotlights/missouri-h5n1-serology-testing.html#:~:text=The%20Missouri%20case%20and%2 0their,patient%20and%20their%20household%20contact.

 

[Treyfish]

California workers resist avian influenza testing

Numbers may be underrepresented as a result
25 October 2024
By: Global Ag Media
North America
Human bird flu cases in California may be undercounted as farm workers avoid testing due in part to economic concerns, Reuters reported, citing a labour union and a state expert.

Since early October, bird flu has infected 15 dairy farm workers in California, where the virus has rapidly spread since August to more than 130 dairy herds.

California farm workers with symptoms consistent with bird flu have avoided testing because they fear they would need to isolate at home without pay, said Elizabeth Strater, national vice president of the United Farm Workers labor union.

"There is a very significant undercount of cases because we don't have a way to monitor who is sick because workers are unwilling to test," Strater said….
​:tiphat:
https://www.thecattlesite.com/news/california-workers-resist-avian-influenza-testing

 

[Treyfish]

Exclusive: Emails Reveal How Health Departments Struggle To Track Human Cases of Bird Flu


By Amy Maxmen
October 25, 2024​
Bird flu cases have more than doubled in the country within a few weeks, but researchers can’t determine why the spike is happening because surveillance for human infections has been patchy for seven months​


Just this week, California reported its 15th infection in dairy workers and Washington state reported seven probable cases in poultry workers.

Hundreds of emails from state and local health departments, obtained in records requests from KFF Health News, help reveal why. Despite health officials’ arduous efforts to track human infections, surveillance is marred by delays, inconsistencies, and blind spots.

Several documents reflect a breakdown in communication with a subset of farm owners who don’t want themselves or their employees monitored for signs of bird flu.

For instance, a terse July 29 email from the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment in Colorado said, “Currently attempting to monitor 26 dairies. 9 have refused.”….
​:tiphat:
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/arti...ls-tracking-human-cases-obstacles-california/

 

[blacknail]

I am somewhat perplexed by what is going on with the wastewater data. There have been significant spikes in some places with dairy processing facilities such as Oswego NY (147) where the Influenza A signal has not been subtyped, but yet the H5 signal is shown as zero. I was assuming this was due to some sort of lag in the reporting.

Then I saw the most recent report for Turlock, CA. This is showing a reading of 1948 for Influenza A with only 1040 subtyped as H5. I have no specific knowledge of their testing and reporting protocols, and am wondering if there has been some sort of shift in the H5 that is causing their primers to fail to detect all of the H5 signal.

Edit: I am assuming that such an increase is due to dairy processing of H5 infected cows as the magnitude of the spike exceeds any other reasonable explanation.

 

[sharon sanders]

FluTrackers.com
@FluTrackers


US - USDA added 41 #H5N1 dairy cattle herds to the California
list which is a 30% increase in listed herds for that state. New known total = 178. New
US mammal known #H5N1 herds = 382.
https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/united-states/h5n1-tracking-af/california/989719-california-avian-flu-in-mammals-and-livestock-2024/page5#post999348… h/t Commonground
9:02 AM · Oct 28, 2024
​
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This makes me wonder how truthful all the other states are/have been.

 

[Commonground]

California Becomes Hot Spot for Bird Flu Cases in Cows, Sparking Fears

​Ilena Peng
Mon, October 28, 2024 at 9:00 AM EDT​

Excerpt:

Still, the death toll has stretched capacity in other aspects of the business.

Baker Commodities Inc., a rendering company that converts cow carcasses into products like tallow and leather, is facing higher demand due to the “larger than normal die-off” in the Central Valley, said Jimmy Andreoli II, the company’s assistant vice president of public relations and legislative affairs.

The company has made temporary adjustments on some routes, such as picking up animals every other day instead of daily, “due to the overwhelming volume of fallen animals and the extra time required for sanitization procedures,” according to a statement.
​
-snip-

The disease could continue to spread among cows for some time. More than 500 herds in California may be infected by early December, according to Nate Donnay, the director of dairy market insight at StoneX Group.

An effective cattle vaccine is “probably the way that we dramatically slow the spread and really keep it from getting a bigger foothold in other parts of the country,” Donnay said. “But in the short term, once it shows up in one of these major dairy areas with large dairy farms, it just seems to spread like wildfire.”
​
continued: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/california-farms-roiled-40-us-130000518.html#

 

[sharon sanders]

FluTrackers.com
@FluTrackers
·
29m


US - NIH press release: "Bovine #H5N1 influenza from infected
worker transmissible and lethal in animal models" + blog by
@Fla_Medic
https://flutrackers.com/forum/forum/welcome-to-the-scientific-library/other-scientific-studies-including-seasonal-novel-flu/h5n1-research-studies-papers-academia/999364-%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%80%8B%E2%8 0%8B%E2%80%8Bbovine-h5n1-influenza-from-infected-worker-transmissible-and-lethal-in-animal-models… h/t Pathfinder​

 

[Pathfinder]

WastewaterSCAN Dashboard
H5, Santa Cruz, CA

​

https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tra...I0LTEwLTI2igEGMmY3YjNh&selectedChartId=2f7b3a

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WastewaterSCAN Dashboard​
H5, Sacramento, CA​​

​https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tracker/?charts=CjgQASABSABSBjAzMjVkZFoHSW5mQV9INXIKMjAyNC 0wOC0yOHIKMjAyNC0xMC0yNYoBBjk5NTBhMQ%3D%3D&selecte dChartId=9950a1

---------------------------------------------

WastewaterSCAN Dashboard

H5, San Francisco, CA

​

https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tracker/?charts=CkAQASABSABSBmU5ZTg3ZVIGMzc0MzBhWgdJbmZBX0 g1cgoyMDI0LTA4LTI4cgoyMDI0LTEwLTI1igEGOTk1MGEx&sel ectedChartId=9950a1

 

[blacknail]

Good find, I wish it was easier to find H5 detections on that site. I suspect its possible that the milk supply from the plant in Turlock is contaminated and these regional readings are from milk. Here is a link to all that sites that I have found recently with H5 detections including these new ones: https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tra...V4QYoBBmFhMjY1N7gBrQ0=&selectedChartId=aa2657

Edit, I also just set up a link to the plants in the area that have no H5 detections to make tracking this easier: https://data.wastewaterscan.org/tra...0yM4oBBjcxNmYzObgBOA==&selectedChartId=716f39

 

[Commonground]

Some of the State Health Departments have updated their site. This is the way we will be informed of human confirmed cases. By a number. No location, date, symptoms. We have no idea where the cases are located within the State. Close proximity? Just a number.

 

[Pathfinder]

State agencies initially struggled to coordinate bird flu response, records show

Emails reveal miscommunication between several agriculture and health departments, delaying public information and responses during the bird flu outbreak among dairy cattle.

by John McCracken, Investigate Midwest, Sky Chadde, Investigate Midwest and Jennifer Bamberg, Investigate Midwest
October 30, 2024
...
Michigan officials disagreed on publicizing second dairy herd outbreak

On April 8, a veterinarian with the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development alerted her bosses to an outbreak in Montcalm County, in the central part of the state. The agriculture department had issued a press release about the first outbreak 10 days earlier, on March 29.

But the state vet, Nora Wineland, said that was not the plan this time. “We do not have plans for a specific press release about this finding,” she wrote in emails obtained by Investigate Midwest through a public records request.

The next day, Joseph Coyle, one of Michigan’s top epidemiologists at the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, pushed back.

“Our feeling is that a proactive vs. reactive media statement is warranted,” he wrote. “Of course, the farms could not be named and (the state health department) and the (local health department) would work with (the agriculture department) on the content of the media statement.”

Over the next two days, state officials had a series of calls, which are not described in the emails. Ultimately, state agriculture officials would lead on messaging.
...

https://investigatemidwest.org/2024...to-coordinate-bird-flu-response-records-show/