Small increase in influenza A evident in wastewater at the national level data.wastewaterscan.org/tracker/?chart…

Our team at Center for Outbreak Response Innovation Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security has put together a scenario-based risk assessment of H5N1. Crystal Watson, DrPH ⬇️
centerforhealthsecurity.org/sites/default/…

🆕 from our team:Senior Scholars Erin Sorrell Monica Schoch-Spana, PhD and
Associate Professor Meghan Davis (@JohnsHopkinsEHE) urge greater protection for dairy farm workers.

Learn more in their The New York Times piece: nytimes.com/2024/05/01/opi…

My #1 data wish for H5N1 is more testing data, including negatives. How many samples have been tested, ideally by week and state. Crucial to know whether there is an ascertainment/throughput issue, or plenty of testing and very few positives. (I suspect the former.)

H5N1: No new cattle herds have been confirmed since 4/19. We absolutely need data on how many tests are being run, by state.

The cattle movement restriction is likely too late to contain transmission. The main benefit is the additional data that will come out of mandatory testing. It's frustrating that testing data is not already available; I hope it's released in the days ahead.

This makes me feel uneasy

IMPORTANT NEWS: Bird flu virus fragments found in grocery milk, not necessarily a threat to human health, but suggests virus is more widespread in cows than previously thought. w Rachel Roubein Dan Diamond. washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04…

'Today, APHIS made available 239 genetic sequences from the U.S. H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b influenza virus...' aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poul…

3 more dairy herds have been confirmed to have cows infected with #H5N1 #birdflu . Texas, Kansas & Michigan each notched up one more infected herd. National total is now 32.
Seems to be a 2-3 day lag between lab confirmation & posting by Dept. of Agriculture.
aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poul…

Now from CDC forecasters, on risk assessment of clade I mpox in DRC to U.S.

'very low' to public, 'low to moderate' for MSM

'no evidence' of wide community transmission in DRC

genomics suggest 'multiple zoonotic introductions'

cdc.gov/forecast-outbr…

We would really benefit from info on epi links between these herds and details on testing.

Sustained Human Outbreak of a New MPXV Clade I Lineage in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

A worrying outbreak in Eastern DRC of sexually transmitted clade I MPXV. If not tackled quickly, this might lead to a new multicountry mpox outbreak!

Can't help but recall the testing criteria in the earliest days of covid, when you had to be hospitalized + have an epi link to China in order to be tested.

Wish we had more information on:
- number and distribution of H5N1 test results, incl negative
-epi links (if any) between affected herds
-outcomes in infected animals
-active surveillance in humans, swine
-more genomic data
-whether stockpiled vaccine matches vs CVV
...

🎉

“Any new disease that evolves faster than our understanding is never under control” - said Margaret Chan, former WHO DG, over 10 years ago. Right now, this is true for at least two recent viral events: #mpox in DRC and #H5N1 in cattle in the US.

The  #mpox outbreak across #DRC is very concerning:
- 3,941 cases have been reported in 2024, including 271 deaths;
- 70% of cases and 87% of deaths are in children under 15 years of age;
- 2/3 (18 of 26) of provinces have reported cases in 2024;
- there are more cases reported in…