.svg)
We as a nation have an opportunity to curb the continued spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) across the global agriculture sector and stop a deadly bird flu pandemic among humans before it starts. It is no secret; the virus is causing immense losses for producers and governments, while wreaking havoc on our food supply, driving food price inflation through the roof as a result. But quelling the spread can only happen if we have the policies, solutions, and tools in place that can better empower public health officials to identify and track the spread. We need a process to pilot innovative tools in the field and fast-track their approval to empower producers, regulatory authorities and veterinarians to fight the virus’ spread and evolution.
HPAI has been particularly harsh on California, heavily impacting not only the poultry industry, but also the dairy industry with cattle and dairy workers, not to mention the looming risk with swine. Recently, the U.S. experienced its first death from H5N1 and just before that on December 18, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for California, due to the rapid spread of avian influenza among cattle in his state. While the declaration is a positive step indicating that the country’s most populous state has recognized the gravity of the situation with H5N1, that urgency is not yet reflected on a national level. It should be.
Right now, H5N1 does not spread efficiently from human to human, though the United States has seen 66 total reported confirmed human cases, including 37 in California. Reported cases are likely a misrepresentation of the total positive cases as testing is not readily available and given other farm worker dynamics that have been written about extensively. Most cases in the U.S. have been mild and CDC maintains that risk to the public remains low, however the first U.S. death from H5N1 has provided a needed wake up call to the potential devastation a virus like this could bring.
Even more concerning, however, is that H5N1 is now circulating along with seasonal influenza in humans, and worryingly has been detected in pigs, which can also contract both human and avian strains of influenza. When that happens, in humans or pigs, the viruses can exchange genetic material, increasing the chance that an H5N1 strain evolves to efficiently spread among people. Studies show that just a single mutation would enable the virus to specifically target receptors on human cells. The more mammals the virus infects, the higher the chance H5N1 mutates to transmit among people, sparking yet another deadly global pandemic.
Currently, diagnostic tests for H5N1 with high precision are laboratory-based for both farm animals and humans. These tests are precise, but delivering samples to a lab for processing means it can take days, even weeks, to return a result. Centralized labs have a limited capacity, which creates bottlenecks and even longer delays. With livestock, veterinarians, poultry producers and integrators, beef and dairy producers, and relevant authorities need to know whether animals are infected as soon as possible so they can take action to contain the virus and prevent further spread. If we are to conduct regular surveillance of herds and flocks, we can’t wait days or weeks for results. At the farm and dairy level, there is also value in proactive testing, particularly before transporting livestock or prior to releasing product for consumption.
As a recent study in Virology Journal points out, “Imagine trying to spot a wildfire before it consumes an entire forest. Just as early detection of smoke and heat is crucial for forest fire management, the early identification of zoonotic threats in animal populations is vital for preventing human outbreaks. However, our current systems are like using a single smoke detector for an entire forest—insufficient and often too late.”
We need accurate, rapid, point of need tests for humans and animals to contain avian flu. Technologies and solutions for this exist today. Unfortunately, it will likely be at least a year before such tests are available for poultry and livestock here in the U.S, even though they are readily available in the EU, UK, Middle East, & North Africa.
“Bringing lab-quality molecular diagnostics to the point of need is critical to stopping H5N1,” said Michael Mina, MD, PhD, a leading expert in public health and diagnostics, and formerly assistant professor of epidemiology at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) and pathology at Harvard Medical School. “Early detection, rapid response, and real-time outbreak monitoring can prevent a crisis. Solutions like Alveo Technologies platform provide the tools we need to act now.”
This conversation extends beyond the need for innovative tools to be readily available to public health officials in the US. For these tools to be effective, public officials need to be supported by regulations and policy that provides them with clear guidance and funding to know when and how to act.
The USDA is charged with assessing the safety and efficacy of all animal diagnostics. It’s important work, and the agency has a stellar record for ensuring that agricultural diagnostics are trustworthy. But in the midst of the current crisis, the US should not wait many months or years for the approval of innovative technologies and solutions that can help us in the fight against avian influenza. As a country, we need the equivalent of a fast-track approval process for agricultural diagnostics and vaccines for H5N1, particularly where these solutions exist today, that demonstrate minimal to no risk, along with data that demonstrates accuracy, safety and efficacy. Again, these solutions are deployed today outside the US.
More awareness of the tools and technologies that exist today to help solve this problem is absolutely needed.
One approach to this could be the USDA collaborating deeper with industry, investing in pilot programs that investigate how the use of new innovative technologies and solutions such as Alveo’s point of need, rapid molecular test could help to identify, manage and contain avian influenza. By enabling producers, veterinarians, and regulatory authorities to test out these solutions in the field now on a pilot basis ahead of regulatory approval, it may help to inform new policy. As a result, the U.S. would be in a much stronger position to minimize the spread of this disease and reduce its impact on our food supply, avoid further economic hardship for farmers, producers and consumers, and ultimately reduce the risk of H5N1 further evolving, potentially creating another deadly global pandemic among humans. Alveo Technologies is ready to help investigate and provide solutions to this catastrophe, which is only getting worse by the day.
