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As bird flu spread among animals soars in the United States, hospitals are being told to proactively screen for potential human cases in influenza A patients.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last month told doctors and laboratorians to “now expedite the subtyping of influenza A-positive specimens from hospitalized patients” in order to “help prevent delays in identifying human infections with avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses.”Following that CDC guidance, the New York State Department of Health issued an advisory on Monday instructing doctors to ask people with suspected or confirmed influenza A about potential exposures to wild and domestic animals, animal products or symptomatic people with probable or confirmed avian influenza.In suspected bird flu cases, “appropriate infection control measures” should be taken, including isolation and the use of a face mask, the health advisory said. The guidance comes as at least 67 people have been infected with the H5 bird flu in the U.S. since 2024, according to the CDC. One person in Louisiana has died from the virus.The Type A H5N1 virus has also spilled from wild birds into U.S. poultry and dairy cows.“As of Feb. 7, 2025, the risk to the general public is low, but of course, we know that this is a virus that has epidemic and pandemic potential,” Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the Toronto General Hospital, told Global News.
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“It’s yet another reason why we need to get this under control, especially in agricultural settings, especially in the United States, to prevent spillover events to humans and to reduce the risk of any outbreaks.” As concerns grow, the state of New York on Friday temporarily shuttered all live bird markets in New York City, Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau counties for one week.Avian influenza A(H5N1) is a subtype of influenza virus that infects birds and mammals, including humans in rare instances, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).The CDC maintains that the risk to the public from H5 bird flu viruses remains low and says it is “closely monitoring this dynamic situation.”In Canada, the risk of bird flu to humans also remains low. In November 2024, Canada’s first human case of the H5 bird flu was detected in British Columbia.A 13-year-old B.C. girl who became North America’s first critical pediatric patient with avian influenza was hospitalized for two months. She was discharged from the hospital last month. In Canada, avian influenza is evaluated in a few ways, Bogoch said.If someone has symptoms consistent with the virus or a history of being in close proximity to animals, a sample could be sent to test for avian influenza.In provincial health labs, a certain proportion of influenza A tests are also evaluated for their genetic makeup to see which strain is circulating, Bogoch said.If the typical seasonal influenza A types, like the H3N2 or H1N1, are not detected, the lab investigates that further for avian influenza or other types of non-typical influenza, he said.In addition, as part of a nationwide surveillance program launched last year, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency also tests for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in retail milk samples. So far, the CFIA has not seen any evidence of disease in Canadian dairy cows.In the U.S., on the other hand, almost 960 dairy herds in 16 states have been impacted with H5N1 bird flu, as of Feb. 6.Bogoch said given the “devastating effects” seen south of the border, Canada should continue its screening program.“It’s not just a human health issue or an animal health issue, it’s a food security issue,” he said.“That’s why it’s being taken so importantly.”
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