California Declares Emergency Due to Bird Flu Concerns
In Sacramento, California, the state government has declared an emergency as concerns grow over the spread of bird flu. The declaration was made on Wednesday by Governor Gavin Newsom, following the detection of more bird flu cases in Southern California. The situation has escalated as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a severe illness in a person linked to bird flu in Louisiana.
State of Emergency Declared
Governor Newsom stated that this emergency proclamation is a focused response to the outbreak. “This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to this outbreak,” he mentioned. The emergency declaration allows state and local agencies to access additional funding and support to tackle the bird flu situation effectively.
Bird Flu’s Impact on Dairy Cattle
Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, has mainly affected birds for the past few years, leading to strict infection precautions in wildlife hospitals. Recently, however, the virus has jumped to cattle, particularly dairy cows. Dr. Michael Payne, a large animal researcher at UC Davis, reported that around 600 dairies in California are currently in quarantine due to the outbreak. This mutation of the virus makes the cows sick but does not kill them.
Dr. Payne explained, “When it does infect them, especially lactating cows, the virus can be excreted in concentrations inside the milk.” This poses a serious public health concern, although there are no reported cases of bird flu spreading from person to person in California or elsewhere in the U.S. so far.
Understanding the Spread and Risks
To date, the CDC has documented a total of 61 cases of bird flu in humans across 16 states, with over half—specifically 34 cases—coming from California. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco, cautioned about the potential risks. “It’s a pandemic already in birds, and what we’re trying to do is prevent it from becoming a pandemic in humans,” he stated.
Although the virus has not successfully transmitted between humans, Dr. Chin-Hong warned that more transmissions in cattle and birds could increase the chances of the virus mutating into a form that could be transmitted from human to human.
Precautions and Responses by Health Officials
As a precautionary measure, one raw milk dairy in California issued a voluntary recall earlier in December after the presence of bird flu was detected in its products. Health officials have consistently advised against consuming unpasteurized milk, citing bacterial risks.
Governor Newsom emphasized that California is already implementing strategies to combat bird flu, collaborating with dairy and poultry farms to reduce farmworkers’ exposure to the virus. Many confirmed bird flu cases are linked to workers in the dairy and poultry industries. “While the risk to the public remains low, we will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent the spread of this virus,” he stated in a public address.
Historical Context of Bird Flu Outbreaks
This current bird flu outbreak began back in 2022. Since then, more than 100 million birds have been culled by poultry farms to control the spread of the disease. The H5N1 bird flu virus is particularly concerning due to its high mortality rate in human infections. The World Health Organization has recorded over 860 human infections of bird flu across 19 countries since 2003, with around 53 percent of those cases resulting in death. However, no deaths from the current outbreak have been reported in the U.S.
Common symptoms of bird flu infection in humans mirror those of the seasonal flu, ranging in severity from none to severe.
