Last week, health officials in British Columbia, Canada, announced that a teenager who contracted bird flu is currently in critical condition. Concerningly, the patient has had no known contact with farmed animals and has no underlying conditions. Less than a week later, a child in California who had no known contact with farmed poultry tested positive for bird flu. These cases mark a stark shift in the spread of bird flu because of the severity of the illness and because neither had direct contact with farmed animals.
“The news of a deeply serious human case of bird flu is a massive wake-up call that should immediately mobilize efforts to prevent another human pandemic,” Farm Forward Executive Director Andrew deCoriolis said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “We could have prevented the spread of bird flu on poultry farms across America, and we didn’t. We could have prevented the spread of bird flu on dairy farms, and we didn’t. Now, the system is blinking red: as bird flu has seen multiple crossover events and there is presumed human-to-human spread that has taken a serious turn, the regulatory agencies responsible must do something.”
The developments should be no surprise. Industrial animal agriculture—especially large-scale poultry farming—is among the largest contributors to zoonotic disease. “Factory farms notorious for raising billions of sickly animals in filthy, cramped conditions provide a recipe for viruses like bird flu to emerge and spread. For almost 20 years Farm Forward has been calling on government agencies, including the USDA and CDC, to address the public health risks of industrial animal farming. We are now on the cusp of another pandemic and the agencies responsible for regulating farms and protecting public health are moving slower than the virus is spreading.”
Regulatory agencies, including USDA and CDC, have been slow to act. In April, Newsweek published an article written by Farm Forward’s executive director and Gail Hansen, DVM, raising serious concerns about the USDA’s slow and piecemeal response. Meaningful action is possible, as countries like France have taken proactive steps to squash bird flu using vaccines and other preventative measures.
The US can still take steps to protect the public. The USDA recently expanded testing requirements for farmed animals, and the CDC released research findings underscoring the need for testing farm workers, moves we and other advocates have long demanded. These steps are in the right direction, but more needs to be done.
Even if we can put the lid back on this immediate bird flu outbreak, this should be a clarion call for a systemic change in the food system.