Massachusetts infectious disease specialists say that not enough is being done to combat the bird flu and worry it could become a human pandemic, the Boston Globe reports.
Several of the state's leading experts made the comments at a public forum Wednesday, saying gaps in surveillance of H5N1 - known as avian flu - and funding cuts by the Trump administration are hurting efforts to contain the disease, which is highly contagious in birds and has been increasing in frequency in other animals, like dairy cows.
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“I think we are living next to a volcano and it may erupt,” said Dr. Jacob Lemieux, an assistant professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It may not, but we need to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic.”
Bird flu, while rare in humans, can be serious or deadly, the experts warned. Scientists are still trying to understand how the virus could mutate and why it is now spreading to new hosts, like the dairy cows.
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"We have very little experience historically with this virus so we don't have immunity," Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's, told NBC10 Boston. "This is a virus not covered by the current flu vaccine and has the potential to cause serious illness."
He urges caution and awareness.
"I don't think we should be sounding an alarms, but we do need to be very vigilant," Kuritzkes said.
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The U.S. is experiencing a national outbreak, which comes at a time when the Trump administration has made efforts to cut federal medical research funding and slash the federal workforce. The proposed cuts could hurt efforts to develop a potential vaccine.
And cuts have already had impacts. In February the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it accidentally fired some of the employees working on the outbreak and had to try to rehire them. The Trump administration has also fired staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which leads public health efforts and communication.
All of this infrastructure is so critical,” Dr. Kathryn Stephenson, a professor of medicine and an infectious disease expert at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said. “Of course, it makes a difference in what we’re doing when we don’t know what our funding is going to be... So that paralyzes our work.”
No human cases have been reported in Massachusetts, but there have been reports in other states, including a man in Louisiana who died after contracting the disease. The outbreak has been decimating bird populations and is being blamed for sky-high egg prices.
While the disease has not been found in dairy cows in our state, since January there have been reports of it in bird populations, including in Plymouth, Brockton and Hudson.
MassWildlife encourages the public to report sightings of five or more dead animals on their website. The division strongly urges people to avoid touching sick or dead animals. If you do choose to get rid of a bird from their property, use proper personal protective equipment and double-bag it before putting it in the trash.
Residents who keep backyard birds like chickens are warned to take precautions against the spread of disease.
