California Declares State of Emergency Over Hen Flu

On Wednesday, California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a State of Emergency in response to the rising menace of the Avian influenza A (H5N1), also referred to as “Hen Flu.” 

Based on the governor’s official web site, Newsom made the choice after further instances of chicken flu have been present in dairy cows on farms in Southern California, “signaling the necessity to additional increase monitoring and construct on the coordinated statewide method to comprise and mitigate the unfold of the virus.”

“This proclamation is a focused motion to make sure authorities businesses have the assets and suppleness they should reply rapidly to this outbreak,” Newsom shared. “Constructing on California’s testing and monitoring system — the most important within the nation — we’re dedicated to additional defending public well being, supporting our agriculture trade, and making certain that Californians have entry to correct, up-to-date data.” 

The proclamation defined that chicken flu has been detected in dairy cattle in 16 states for the reason that first confirmed detection in Texas and Kansas in March 2024. Based on Reuters, the U.S. has additionally simply confirmed the primary case of “extreme” chicken flu in a human on Wednesday, present in a resident in Louisiana, who has now been hospitalized and is in crucial situation. It is also the primary case to be linked to a yard farm relatively than a big business facility. And whereas the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) nonetheless regards chicken flu as low-risk to people, it has additionally confirmed 61 human instances throughout the US. — principally in dairy farm employees. 

Consultants like Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar on the Johns Hopkins Middle for Well being Safety, instructed Reuters that this explicit case in Louisiana is one to observe because the virus could also be completely different than the one seen in cattle.

“The delicate instances that we have seen in the US largely mirror that lots of the people are getting contaminated by dairy cows, and that is very completely different than getting contaminated with contaminated birds,” Adalja stated. “In case you take a look at the genotype of this affected person in Louisiana, it wasn’t the cattle pressure. It was a wild chicken pressure.” (The CDC famous that the particular person contaminated in Louisiana could have had publicity to sick or useless birds on their property.)

Moreover, CBS famous that California is not the primary state to problem an emergency motion attributable to chicken flu. In August, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis additionally issued an emergency declaration for Weld County following its personal chicken flu outbreak. 

And whereas, once more, the danger is low, the CDC has suggested shoppers to avoid “raw or undercooked meals or associated raw meals merchandise, reminiscent of unpasteurized (uncooked) milk or uncooked cheeses, from animals with suspected or confirmed HPAI A(H5N1) virus an infection.” 

Nevertheless, even this is probably not sufficient. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis with the CDC, shared with reporters on a name, “Infections and not using a clear supply of publicity do happen,” however importantly added, “neither these instances nor the instances with recognized animal or animal merchandise publicity have resulted in human to human transmission.”

Reuters added that for the reason that outbreak started in 2022, chicken flu has contaminated greater than 860 dairy herds and killed 123 million poultry. Newsom added, “Whereas the danger to the general public stays low, we’ll proceed to take all vital steps to stop the unfold of this virus.”