(NEW YORK) — Moderna has been awarded approximately $590 million from the federal government to help speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine, alongside other influenza vaccines, health officials announced Friday.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a press release that the funding will allow the pharmaceutical company to accelerate the development of an H5N1 mRNA influenza vaccine “that is well matched to strains currently circulating in cows and birds and expands the clinical data supporting the use of mRNA vaccines that may be needed if other influenza strains emerge with pandemic potential.”
Moderna said the funding will support the expansion of clinical studies “for up to five additional subtypes of pandemic influenza.”
The U.S. government previously awarded the vaccine manufacturer $176 million in July 2024 to help expedite the development of an mRNA vaccine that could be used for bird flu.
mRNA technology is the same type that was used in the development of some COVID-19 vaccines. While some vaccines use a weakened or inactive virus to stimulate an immune response, mRNA vaccines teach the body how to make proteins that can trigger an immune response and fight off an infection.
Researchers can often design mRNA vaccines more quickly than they can produce the live or weakened pathogens needed for a live-attenuated or inactivated vaccine.
The federal government already has two bird flu vaccine candidates, which use traditional vaccine technology, available in the nation’s stockpile. Officials previously noted they’d have 10 million ready-to-use doses within the beginning of 2025. Vaccines were being stockpiled as a precaution.
“Avian flu variants have proven to be particularly unpredictable and dangerous to humans in the past. That is why this response has been a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and HHS,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Friday. “Accelerating the development of new vaccines will allow us to stay ahead and ensure that Americans have the tools they need to stay safe.”
Bird flu cases in humans have been spreading across the country since April 2024 with 67 confirmed cases as of Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The first death of a human bird flu patient was reported in Louisiana earlier this month. The patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical conditions, according to health officials.
Most human cases have occurred after coming into contact with infected cattle, infected poultry farms or other culling operations.
The CDC and other public health officials say there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission and the risk to the general public is low.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — A child in San Francisco was recently confirmed to be the third human case of bird flu in the United States in which it’s unclear how the person got infected.
Most human cases have occurred after coming into contact with infected cattle, infected poultry farms or other culling operations.
The CDC and other public health officials say there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission and the risk to the general public is low.
Doctors tell ABC News they agree but, with few cases that have an unknown — or unclear — source of infection, there may be evidence of some cases slipping through the cracks.
“There are reassuring factors here, which is the child appears to have had mild disease recovered…and kind of mild symptoms,” Dr. Tony Moody, a professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases specialist at Duke University, told ABC News.
Moody added, “That’s reassuring on the one hand, but it’s also concerning, because we don’t know, does this represent the only case, or is it one of 10,000 cases that just haven’t made their way into the health care system?”
Health officials in San Francisco first reported the bird flu case in the child earlier this month before it was confirmed by the CDC.
The child experienced symptoms of fever and eye irritation, and has since fully recovered, officials said. Investigators said they’re looking into how the child was exposed to the virus.
A CDC spokesperson confirmed this is the second child infected with bird flu in the country, the first case being in late November in California, also with unknown exposure.
The agency noted this is the third time that an exposure source has not been identified for a bird flu case with most other cases directly linked to exposure by infected livestock.
Moody said it’s hard what to make of the case because, while the CDC has bumped up surveillance, there are still gaps.
“It’s not universal surveillance. We’re not able to capture all of the cases that we might like to catch,” Moody said. “And so, it’s kind of hard to know what to do with isolated data points like this, when you get a report of, yes, this is a confirmed case. But it’s also like, what is the actual denominator here? How many cases are there really out there? And it’s kind of hard to tell.”
“So, I’m not sure that the identification of this case tells us a whole lot, other than, yep, it’s circulating,” Moody added.
Dr. Meghan Davis, an associate professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News that because many of the cases have been mild, people with similarly mild symptoms may not be getting tested for bird flu.
For example, someone with pink eye, also known as conjunctivitis, may not associate it with bird flu, even with recent exposure to cattle.
“I’m certain that we’re missing some cases, because not everybody is going to even go to a health care provider if they’re sick and get swabbed,” she said. “There may be people who have more mild symptoms, and it doesn’t graduate to the level of ‘I need to go to urgent care’ or ‘I need to go to the hospital.'”
Both Moody and Davis said more surveillance needs to be conducted to catch cases that fly under the radar. Davis points out that the CDC is already doing this, announcing Thursday it is calling for a shortened timeline for subtyping all tests that are positive with influenza A to identify non-seasonal influenza.
The CDC said it is reminding clinicians and laboratories to test for influenza in patients with suspected cases and to expedite subtyping to determine if they have bird flu rather than seasonal flu.
“The reason this is important is that what you do for someone who has seasonal flu may be a little bit different than what you do when you’re dealing with a virus that’s novel and you don’t know entirely what to expect clinically, and you don’t know entirely what to expect in terms of its potential to continue to spread,” Davis said.
Moody added that it’s reassuring the recent pediatric case in California did not occur within a cluster of cases, such as an entire family becoming infected.
He explained it would be much more jarring to have a cluster of cases with unconfirmed infection compared to an isolated case.
“When we see a report of a cluster of cases, that’s when my blood pressure is going to go up,” Moody said. “Given everything else we know, I think let’s keep our worry proportional for now.”
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Women are now being diagnosed with cancer more often than men in certain age groups, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society.
Among adults aged 50-64, cancer rates are slightly higher in women, and women under 50 are almost twice as likely as men in the same age group to receive a cancer diagnosis.
The report, released Thursday, found that while deaths continue to decrease, troubling racial disparities persist, with white Americans more likely to survive cancer than other groups.
Meanwhile, the report echoed data from recent years suggesting a worrying increase in cancer diagnosis among younger Americans, with colon cancer rates increasing among adults 65 and younger.
Broadly, the report suggested doctors are getting better at saving lives thanks to better treatments but reinforced worrying trends around rising diagnoses of some cancers, particularly among women. Changes in screening practices, lifestyle factors, obesity, environmental hazards and lower rates of smoking in men may be contributing to the trend, the report said.
Alcohol in particular was singled out as a possible lifestyle factor that may increase the risk of some cancers.
“For colorectal cancer, for example, it seems to be really excessive [alcohol intake] that is associated with increased risk of this cancer, whereas for breast cancer, there doesn’t seem to be any safe level of alcohol, but the elevated risk is small,” said Rebecca Seigel, senior scientific director of cancer surveillance research for the American Cancer Society.
As Seigel explained, higher rates of cancer in young people could also be part of a “generational impact” where people are diagnosed earlier in life and less frequently when they are older.
Lung cancer remains particularly deadly, with 2.5 times more deaths than colorectal and pancreatic cancer. Smoking continues to be the leading preventable cause of lung cancer, but other contributors, such as radon, air pollution and genetic mutations, may be driving cases.
“Overall, in this country, nonsmoking lung cancer, by itself, would be the eighth leading cause of cancer mortality, and worldwide, it would be the fifth leading,” said Dr. William Dahut, the American Cancer Society’s chief science officer.
Disparity rates in cancer outcomes remain striking as well, especially for minority populations.
Uterine corpus cancer, for example, has lower survival rates now than 40 years ago, with Black women at 63% survival compared to 84% for white women. Black men and women also face some of the highest death rates for prostate and breast cancers.
“I think the stubborn resistance in terms of outcomes among underrepresented minorities is a concern,” said Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, interim chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society.
“We have our VOICES program, which is an attempt to enroll as many African American women from across the country in a longitudinal study, something that hasn’t been done to try to answer some of these questions as to why that persistent burden is there,” he added.
The report does include some good news. While it predicts around 1,700 deaths from cancer per day in 2025, cancer death rates have fallen by 34% since their peak in 1991, preventing nearly 4.5 million deaths over the past three decades. This progress is largely attributed to declines in smoking, earlier detection for certain cancers, and advances in treatment, including breakthrough therapies like immunotherapy and targeted drugs.
Prevention has been a critical focus too, with initiatives like smoking cessation programs and HPV vaccination playing pivotal roles in reducing cancer risk. Public health efforts targeting obesity, alcohol use and expanding access to screenings have also helped tackle preventable cancers by improving early detection.
Cancer experts stress the importance of staying current with screening recommendations. For example, the American Cancer Society recommends most people start screening for colorectal cancer at age 45 or even sooner if you have a family history. For breast cancer, mammogram screening should start at age 40 for women with normal risk and earlier for women at high risk.
The report is a call for people to understand their family history better and take steps to reduce cancer risk, Dahut noted.
“Being proactive on your diet, on your exercise, avoiding tobacco, getting your vaccinations and monitoring alcohol are really all important ways to actually prevent cancer,” he said, adding that research efforts are also focused on finding new ways to detect cancer.
Miranda Guerriero, D.O., is a resident physician at University of Texas at Tyler and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Canned cherries made with red dye #3/Photo credit: Linnea Bullion For The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is moving to ban the use of Red No. 3 dye in food products.
The agency said Wednesday it is amending its color additive regulations to no longer allow the use of Red No. 3 in food, beverages and ingested drugs, in response to a 2022 petition from health groups and activists.
FD&C Red No. 3, also known as Red 3, is a synthetic food dye that gives foods and drinks a bright, cherry-red color. It is primarily used in foods such as candy, cakes and cupcakes, cookies, frozen desserts, frosting and icings, and some ingested drugs.
At least two studies have shown that high levels of the food dye were linked to cancer in rats. However, the link between the dye and cancer does not occur in humans, the FDA says.
While studies in other animals and humans did not show this link of cancer, an FDA regulation prohibits the agency to authorize color additive found to induce cancer in humans or animals, pushing the agency to revoke the food dye’s authorization.
Food manufacturers will have until 2027 to reformulate their products while drugmakers will have until 2028.
FDA Commissioner Robert Califf was asked at a Senate hearing in December why the dye had not been banned. He said the FDA hasn’t been given the resources to do the kind of post-market monitoring of substances done in Europe, where it has been largely banned since 1994. The FDA also banned the use of Red 3 in cosmetics in 1990.
“We have repeatedly asked for better funding for chemical safety … Please look at our request for funding for the people who do this work, remember that when we do ban something, it will go to court, and if we don’t have the scientific evidence … we will lose in court,” Califf said at the hearing.
Red 40, another synthetic food dye used to achieve a bright crimson color in condiments and candy, will remain available for use. Some studies have also shown Red 40 is a carcinogen in animals.
Red No. 3 was first approved by the FDA in 1969 and had been reviewed “multiple times” since then, according to the agency.
ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy contributed to this report.
At least 24 people are believed to be dead and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as of Monday morning. Additionally, 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings.
Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest health care systems in California, said most of its facilities remain open and operational but seven remain closed, including facilities in the cities and neighborhoods of Pasadena, Rosemead, Santa Monica, Canyon County and Sylmar.
Keck Medicine of USC shared an update to its website stating that all affiliated hospitals remain open but at least nine clinics remain closed, including those in Arcadia, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge and Los Angeles.
Providence health care system, which serves five Western states including California, also announced that some of its outpatient services, such as doctors’ offices, were closed but that its hospitals remain open.
Adventist Health Glendale said in a statement on its website that its hospital and emergency department is operating as usual and patients are not being evacuated. However, some patients with elective procedures are being rescheduled to a later date and all non-essential visitation has been postponed.
“Some patients with elective procedures may be rescheduled for a later date – These patients will be contacted directly by their provider,” the statement said.
As of Sunday afternoon, UCLA Health said clinic operations were “impacted” in the neighborhoods of Calabasas, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena. However, it’s unclear from the UCLA statement how many clinics are closed.
“Affected patients will be contacted with additional information. Patients with questions or seeking to reschedule appointments are encouraged to contact their physician’s office or clinic,” UCLA Health stated on its website. “UCLA Health asks that visits to our medical center emergency departments be reserved for urgent and life-threatening medical conditions.”
Some health care centers are working to reopen after being temporarily closed. Cedars-Sinai shared in an update on its website Monday that it was planning to resume non-urgent and non-emergency procedures, some of which it had postponed because of the fires.
“Our Medical Network has reopened most outpatient offices and surgery centers that had been temporarily closed, including locations in Brentwood/West Los Angeles, Los Feliz, Pasadena and Santa Monica. We continue to do everything possible to minimize any disruptions to care,” Cedars-Sinai’s update stated.
Additionally, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, which has locations in four states including California, said its main campus in Duarte and all of its outpatient clinics are open as staff work to accommodate patients “whose care was impacted over the last few days.”
(LOS ANGELES) — As devastating wildfires continue to spread across southern California, thousands of structures have been destroyed or damaged and at least five people have been killed.
Residents and firefighters have suffered physical injuries, but doctors say the wildfires can also take a heavy mental health toll on civilians and first responders.
“I think when disaster like this is unfolding, it makes sense to prioritize people’s lives and mortality but, over time, we have to think about mental health consequences too,” Dr. Sarah Lowe, associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at Yale School of Public Health, told ABC News.
“We also know that mental and physical health are connected,” she continued. “While mental health symptoms might not necessarily be linked to the exposure itself, they could be linked to or exacerbated by physical health ailments.”
Mental health experts say that most people are resilient and do not develop a mental health condition as a result of trauma from a natural disaster.
However, those with more exposure to the event — such as losing a home, losing a loved one or experiencing injury — are at higher risk, the experts said.
“It is common to experience emotional distress during these traumatic events, where people often lose a sense of control,” Dr. Jace Reed, director of emergency psychiatry for the department of psychiatry & behavioral neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, told ABC News. “The current wildfires have led to evacuations, the destruction of homes and property, the loss of beloved pets, physical injuries and even death, all of which can be profoundly distressing.
“Individuals may feel a range of emotions, including denial, anger, sadness, shock and hopelessness,” he added. “This emotional response can evolve into later stages, such as acceptance, further sadness, depression and bitterness.”
Research has shown wildfires can lead to increased rates of anxiety and depression and symptoms may become worse among people who already have these conditions.
Additionally, people can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can include intrusive thoughts and nightmares.
Leaving PTSD untreated can result in the use of or dependence on drugs and alcohol, increased risk of chronic health conditions and increased risk of self-harm.
Dr. Ian Stanley, an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told ABC News that untreated PTSD can put a strain on relationships including familial relationships, romantic relationships and friendships.
“It can really begin to eat away at, not just the person’s well-being, but also the social environment in which they live,” he said.
Wildfire smoke can also put you at risk
The experts said it’s not just people directly affected by the fire who are at risk of mental health impacts. People exposed to wildfire smoke are at risk as well.
Wildfire smoke can travel long distances, meaning cities hundreds of miles away may be experiencing unhealthy air quality.
A 2024 study from Emory University found that wildfire smoke was linked with emergency department visits for anxiety disorders with higher risks among girls, women and older adults.
“Even people who aren’t directly affected by fires, the smoke from them, coming into their neighborhoods and communities, even if it’s imperceptible, can have impacts on mental health,” Lowe said. “We’re seeing more and more, and that’s with a range of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety.”
Firefighters, first responders also at risk
Firefighters battling the flames and first responders helping treat those who are injured or are in need are also at risk of experiencing mental health impacts.
Firefighters and other rescue personnel are at greater risk of developing PTSD compared to the general population. An August 2016 study found approximately 20% of firefighters and paramedics meet the criteria for PTSD at some point in their career compared to a 6.8% lifetime risk for the general population, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
“They’re on the front lines, and first responders, firefighters, police, EMS have potentially pre-existing vulnerabilities to developing mental health problems at a higher rate than the civilian population,” Stanley said.
The duties of first responders — facing challenging situations, reaching out to survivors, providing support — can be strenuous and put them at an increased risk of trauma, according to a 2018 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
“They’re trained to do this; this is their job, and yet it can still take a toll on them, especially the crews that are away from home, spending weeks away from home and maybe lacking the traditional support system that are used to,” Stanley said.
How to help those with mental health impacts
Lowe said it will be important for California to make sure it is providing enough licensed professionals to the areas where people may be in need.
This can be challenging in the face of a large-scale mental health crisis in the U.S. in which there is a shortage of mental health professionals.
“Having good coverage for mental health services, increasing access to services” is important, she said. “A lot of times, we can’t practice outside of our jurisdiction, but there’s declarations during disasters, folks can practice outside … so just ways to increase access.”
The experts also recommend limiting time reading news coverage and social media posts of the wildfires, much of which can be distressing.
“This can lead to increased anxiety, sleep difficulties and stress, causing many people to feel the urge to consume more information,” Reed said. This increased consumption is likely more anxiety-provoking than comforting. … I recommend that people consume this content in moderation and focus on activities that help reduce their stress levels.”
Family members and friends can help by providing a sense of support for their loved one and confidently checking in, the experts said.
“You can think of kind of the 3 Hs here: Do you want to be helped? Do you want to be hugged? Or do you want to be heard?” Stanley said. “Some people just want a shoulder to cry on. Some people want you to go into problem-solving mode and some people just want a listening ear.”
(NEW YORK) — Meta — the company that operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp –announced on Tuesday it was ending third-party fact-checking.
Some social media policy experts and public health experts are worried that the end of fact-checking could lead to the spread of medical and science misinformation and disinformation. This is especially worrisome as the U.S. is in the throes of respiratory virus season and is fighting the spread of bird flu.
“There’s going to be a rise in all kinds of disinformation, misinformation, from health to hate speech and everything in between,” Megan Squire, deputy director for data analytics and open-source intelligence at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told ABC News. “[Health] is supposed to be a nonpartisan issue, and … we do see people trying to leverage health [misinformation], in particular, toward a political end, and that’s a real shame.”
“I’m hopeful, but I’m also concerned that this new structure that all the Meta properties are embarking on, it’s just not going to end well,” she added.
The social network giant said it was following the footsteps of X, replacing the program with user-added community notes.
In a press release of the announcement, Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer for Meta, said that the choices about what was being fact-checked showed “biases and perspectives.”
How fact-checking, community notes work
Meta started fact-checking in December 2016. Meta’s fact-checking works by Meta staff identifying hoaxes or by using technology that detects posts likely to contain misinformation. The fact-checkers then conduct their own reporting to review and rate the accuracy of posts.
If a piece of content is identified as false, it receives a warning label and the content’s distribution is reduced so fewer people see it.
Fact-checkers put in place following Donald Trump’s 2016 election win were found to be “too politically biased” and have destroyed “more trust than they’ve created,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video posted by the company.
By comparison, community notes work by a user adding context to a post that may be misleading. It is then upvoted or downvoted by other users.
Zeve Sanderson, executive director of NYU Center for Social Media Politics, said after the 2016 election, there was immense pressure for social medial platforms, including Meta, to commit resources to combatting misinformation.
Following the election, most posts being fact-checked were to combat political misinformation, according to Sanderson. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this was expanded to combat medical misinformation, he said.
Sanderson said there were a lot of claims going unchecked online because Meta has not had enough fact-checkers to check every post. Additionally, he said some people didn’t trust fact-checkers.
“There were groups of people online who didn’t trust fact checkers, who saw them as biased, often in a liberal direction,” he told ABC News. “This crowd-sourced content moderation program … it’s going to do different things well and different things poorly. We just don’t know how this is actually going to work in practice.”
Meta referred ABC News back to its Tuesday announcement in response to a request for comment on plans for its community notes or potential spread of misinformation.
Spread of misinformation during COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions were exposed to a deluge of information including news, research, public health guidance and fact sheets, which the World Health Organization referred to as an “infodemic.”
People were also exposed to misinformation and disinformation about what treatments work against COVID-19, how much of a risk the virus poses to children and whether COVID-19 vaccines are effective.
A 2023 KFF survey found that most Americans were not sure if health information they had encountered was true or false.
A report from the U.S. Surgeon General in 2021 found that misinformation led to people rejecting masking and social distancing, using unproven treatment and rejecting COVID-19 vaccines.
Experts told ABC News that members of the general public often do not have enough health literacy to determine if they should trust or not trust information they encounter online or on social media.
Squire said sometimes government agencies do not put out information in an “interesting” format, which may lead people to click on “entertaining” content from misinformation and disinformation peddlers.
“Some of these YouTube videos about health misinformation are a lot more entertaining. Their message just travels faster,” she said. “When you’re presenting scientific information — I know this firsthand as a former college professor — that’s a struggle. You have to be pretty talented at it and, a lot of times, where the expertise lies is not necessarily where the most expedient, fun videos are and stuff.”
How to combat health misinformation
Meta’s change comes as the U.S. faces an increase in bird flu cases and continues treating patients falling ill with respiratory illnesses.
As of Jan. 8, there have been 66 human cases of bird flu reported in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It’s also flu season. As of the week ending Dec. 28, 2024, there have been at least 5.3 million illnesses, 63,000 hospitalizations and 2,700 deaths from flu so far this season, according to CDC estimates.
Meanwhile, health care professionals have been encouraging Americans to get their flu shot and other vaccines — including COVID and RSV — to protect themselves against serious disease.
Experts are worried that with the change from fact-checking to community notes that misinformation could spread about the effectiveness of vaccines or how serious an illness is.
“I am concerned about the sheer amount of inaccurate information that’s out there,” Dr. Brian Southwell, a distinguished Fellow at nonprofit research institute RTI International and an adjunct faculty member at Duke University, told ABC News. “That’s something that you know ought to bother all of us as we’re trying to make good decisions. But there’s a lot that could be done, even beyond, you know, the realm of social media to try to improve the information environments that are available for people.”
Southwell said one thing that public health experts and federal health agencies can do is to get an idea of the questions that users are going to have about medical topics — such as bird flu and seasonal flu — and be ready with information to answer those questions online.
To combat being exposed to information, the experts recommended paying attention to where the information is coming from, whether it’s a respected source or someone you are unfamiliar with.
“There are various skills that are important, things like lateral reading, where rather than just evaluating the claim, you do research about the source of that claim and what you can find out about them to understand what some of their incentives or track record might be,” Sanderson said.
“This is obviously something that, sadly, social media platforms are not designed in order to incentivize this sort of behavior, so the responsibility is thrust on users to sort of look out for themselves,” he added.
Human Bird Flu Cases in the U.S. as of January 6, 2025. Image by ABC News. Data via CDC.
(NEW YORK) — In the nearly nine months since the first human case of bird flu was detected in the United States, the virus has continued to spread.
The outbreak infected hundreds of herds and millions of birds before it spread to humans. As of Jan. 6, there have been 66 human cases of bird flu reported in 10 states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Almost all confirmed cases involve direct contact with infected cattle or infected livestock.
On Tuesday, the first death of a human bird flu patient was reported in Louisiana. The patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical conditions, according to health officials.
The CDC says there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission and the risk to the general public is low.
However, public health experts say they are worried the virus could mutate and become more transmissible, amplifying the need to ramp up testing and to stockpile vaccines.
Dr. Tony Moody, a professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases specialist at Duke University, said the fact that cases have yet to pass from human to human is “both reassuring, but not completely reassuring.”
He told ABC News, “What we’re concerned about is that, eventually, we might get a variation of this strain that could pass from person to person. That’s really what we’re going to need to see, I think, to get substantial human cases and the potential for a new pandemic strain.”
He added, “So, in terms of peering into the crystal ball for 2025…I think the concern is whether or not we’re going to see something change that will turn it into a pandemic strain that could then really be a problem,” he added.
Fears of mutation or a combination virus
One fear experts have is that the virus will continue to mutate in a way that will cause more human-to-human transmissibility. The experts say that every new human case of bird flu allows the virus an opportunity to mutate.
Recent CDC data found mutations in samples of bird flu collected from the Louisiana patient. What’s more, the mutations were not found in poultry samples collected on the patient’s property, suggesting the changes appeared after the patient became infected.
Moody said that because the virus has not yet mutated in a way to spread more easily between humans, he’s not sure if or when it will happen.
“Given the number of cows that have been infected, the number of birds that have been infected and the fact that the virus essentially mutates every time it replicates, I’m kind of surprised that the mutations that they’re talking about haven’t happened yet,” he said. “So, I actually think there’s a bigger barrier to it becoming a real problem.”
Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said he believes there is a more likely scenario of the virus becoming more transmissible: an individual getting infected with bird flu and seasonal influenza at the same time.
He said this could lead to the virus “reassorting” to produce a hybrid, or recombinant, virus that could then transmit more easily from person to person.
“Everyone’s focusing on the potential for mutation; that is a serious concern for some,” he told ABC News. “The greater probability is that there could be a reassortment, what could ignite the pandemic or an epidemic.”
The experts say there is no evidence the virus is currently heading towards an epidemic or pandemic, but there has already been one case of severe disease.
Different genotypes, or genetic makeup of the virus, means there could more severe cases.
“What we’ve seen with [bird flu] in the United States is that the particular genotype that’s associated with dairy cows has primarily caused more mild disease in people,” Dr. Meghan Davis, an associate professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News.
“What we’ve seen with the case in Louisiana … is caused by a different genotype, one that has been circulating in the wild birds, and these are much more severe cases,” she continued. “This highlights the ability of avian influenzas to cause a wide variety of disease … and I think it is possible that we’re going to see that moving forward.”
Making testing more available
The U.S. has begun ramping up testing with the U.S. Department of Agriculture issuing a federal order for raw milk samples nationwide to be collected and tested and the Food and Drug Administration announcing it is collecting samples of aged raw cow’s milk cheese to be tested.
However, for 2025, Hotez said he believes testing needs to be made more readily available to physicians, especially during flu season.
He said there are likely cases of bird flu going undiagnosed, and testing made more available in health care settings would catch those flying under the radar.
“I think one of the problems that we have, especially as we move into influenza season, there’s the risk that, if you’re a physician, if they want to do influenza testing, they’re only really testing for the usual seasonal influenza, they’re not testing for [bird flu],” he said. “Otherwise, we’re never going to fully know the actual extent of the problem.”
Stockpiling bird flu vaccines
In early July, the U.S. government awarded Moderna $176 million to develop and test a bird flu vaccine using mRNA technology, which is the same technology used for the COVID vaccine.
In October, federal health officials announced they were providing $72 million to vaccine manufacturers to help ensure currently available bird flu vaccines are ready to use, if needed.
There are currently no recommendations for anyone in the U.S. to be vaccinated against bird flu, but experts say that could change if the virus becomes more transmissible.
Moody said clinical trials for new vaccines are being conducted and there are already bird flu vaccines in a stockpile maintained by the U.S. government that have previously been licensed by the FDA.
However, these three vaccines were formulated to protect against older strains of bird flu so there are questions about their protectiveness.
“One of the difficulties in making a stockpile is you’re trying to predict the future. Picking which influenza is going to be a problem is always the difficult bit,” Moody said. “So, I think that those vaccines that are in the stockpile, based on the data that I’ve seen, have a pretty good chance of being helpful. Whether or not they’ll be the answer that’s a that’s a tougher question to address.”
He said the U.S. is in a better position currently to address bird flu if it becomes an epidemic or pandemic than the country was to address COVID in 2020.
“We know how to do this. We know how to make these vaccines. We know how to get everything rolled out, and so I think we are in a better position today,” Moody said.
(LOUISIANA) — The first person has died of bird flu in the United States, the Louisiana Department of Health confirmed on Monday.
The patient, who was exposed to non-commercial backyard flock and wild birds, was over age 65 and had underlying medical conditions, officials said.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the patient was experiencing the first case of severe bird flu in the U.S.
At the time, a spokesperson from the Louisiana Department of Health told ABC News the patient was experiencing severe respiratory illness related to bird flu infection and was in critical condition. The patient remains the only human case of bird flu confirmed in Louisiana.
The U.S. has seen an increase in human cases of bird flu, or avian influenza, since April, when the first human case was reported.
As of Jan. 3, there have been 66 human cases of bird flu reported in the U.S., according to CDC data.
Signs and symptoms of infection in humans often include sore throat, cough, fever, runny or stuffy nose, headache, muscle or body aches, fatigue and shortness of breath, the CDC says. Less common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and seizures.
Infections can range from no symptoms or mild illness, such as flu-like symptoms, to more severe illness, such as pneumonia that could require hospitalizations, the CDC says.
Almost all confirmed cases have had direct contact with infected cattle or infected livestock. Aside from the case confirmed in the Louisiana patient, cases have been mild, and patients had all recovered after receiving antiviral medication, according to the CDC and state health officials.
One previous case in Missouri was hospitalized, but health officials pointed to other health conditions aside from bird flu infection involved in the patient’s admission to the hospital.
The Louisiana Department of Health and the CDC say there is no evidence of person-to-person transmission and the risk to the general public is low.
However, those who work with birds, poultry or cows — or have recreational exposure to them — are at higher risk.
The CDC recommends staying away from sick or dead wild birds, poultry and other animals and, if contact is unavoidable, using personal protective equipment.
The agency also suggests not touching surfaces or materials contaminated with saliva, mucous or animal feces from wild or domestic birds and animals confirmed or suspected to have bird flu as well as not consuming raw milk or raw milk products.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a new federal order last month that raw milk samples nationwide will be collected and shared with the department in order to test for bird flu.
(CHINA) — Chinese health officials are reportedly monitoring an increase in cases of human metapneumovirus (HMPV).
There is currently no evidence that the outbreak is out of the ordinary or that a new respiratory virus or illness has emerged in China.
A spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO) said data from China indicates “there has been a recent rise in acute respiratory infections” but that “the overall scale and intensity of respiratory infectious diseases in China this year are lower than last year.”
Cases of HMPV have been steadily increasing in the U.S. since November 2024 with 1.94% of weekly tests positive for HMPV as of Dec. 28, 2024, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By comparison, 18.71% of weekly tests were positive for flu and 7.10% were positive for COVID during the same week, the data shows.
Public health experts told ABC News that HMPV is well-known to health care professionals and commonly circulates during respiratory virus season.
“This is that winter respiratory virus season, indeed,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, told ABC News. “So, all of these respiratory viruses — influenza, COVID, RSV, human metapneumovirus — they all increase this time of the year, in part because we get so close to each other.”
“We spend time indoors and, of course, all of this holiday traveling, family get-together, and parties have been opportunities for us to get close together and for the virus to be transmitted,” he continued.
Here’s what you need to know about HMPV, including what it is, how it spreads and how to treat it.
What is HMPV?
HMPV is a virus that can cause upper and lower respiratory disease, according to the CDC.
It was discovered in 2001 and is in the Pneumoviridae family along with respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, the CDC said.
Over the years, there has been a better understanding and awareness of HMPV, which has led to broader testing, according to the federal health agency.
“Human metapneumovirus is another one of those respiratory viruses that we’re now appreciating more because we have the diagnostic capability to actually diagnose it more readily in hospitals, emergency rooms and even in physicians’ offices,” Schaffner said. “Now we have diagnostic panels that can tell you whether you have influenza or COVID or RSV or human metapneumovirus.”
What are the symptoms?
HMPV has an incubation period of three to six days, according to the CDC.
Symptoms include cough, nasal congestion, fever and shortness of breath, the federal health agency said.
“It’s oftentimes indistinguishable from the other respiratory viruses, because we don’t usually check for it unless somebody is really ill,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News.
Young children and adults aged 65 and older are among those at the highest risk of HMPV progressing to bronchitis or pneumonia.
How does it spread?
HMPV can spread through secretions from coughing and sneezing, close personal contact and touching objects that have the virus and then touching the eyes, nose or mouth, according to the CDC.
In the U.S., like other respiratory viruses, HMPV cases typically rise in the winter and decrease in the spring.
Chin-Hong said most people are exposed to HMPV by the time they’re five years old. People can get reinfected, but symptoms are typically milder.
Those who are immunocompromised or are older may experience more severe symptoms if they are reinfected.
Is there treatment for HMPV?
There are no antivirals to treat HMPV, so treatment consists of providing supportive care to patients with moderate or severe symptoms, the experts said.
“If you’re wheezing, we’ll give bronchodilators,” Chin-Hong said, referencing a medication that relaxes and opens the airways and helps clear mucus from the lungs. “If you’re dehydrated, we give fluid; we reduce the fever.”
Chin-Hong said that because people may develop co-infections, including bacterial infections, antibiotics may need to be given.
How do I prevent HMPV?
There is no vaccine to prevent HMPV, so prevention includes following basic hygiene including washing hands with soap and water, covering the nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing and staying home when sick.
“People who are in this high-risk group for any of these viruses — particularly older people, people who are frail, people who are immune-compromised — if they go indoors where there are a lot of people, [they should] put their mask back on and also consider social distancing,” Schaffner said.
Chin-Hong and Schaffner added that it’s important for people to receive vaccines for other respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, flu and RSV.
Getting vaccinated against other respiratory viruses can reduce the risk of co-infection and may help health care professionals rule out certain illnesses much sooner.
“Sure, you can get serious disease from HMPV itself, but if you get HMPV plus pneumococcus or HMPV plus influenza or RSV, it could be much worse,” Chim-Hong said. “During respiratory virus season, you want to minimize the probability of co-infection.”
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report
