As the government is about to shut down, what happens to bird flu monitoring?

As government agencies prepare for possible shutdowns, questions about the government’s response to the potentially rampant H5N1 bird flu strain are on the minds of many public health and agriculture officials.

Questions to the US Department of Agriculture, which oversees the dairy industry and the National Milk Testing Strategy – a program launched last week that, once fully operational, will test the nation’s milk for the H5N1 virus – went unanswered. Questions to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were directed to Human Health Services, which also went unanswered.

“The government shutdown is unnecessary and puts pressure on our public health system at a time when it is critical to monitor and respond to emerging public health threats,” said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Sacramento).

Bera said that although he expects important staff from the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration to monitor the disease, “these organizations will not be fully operational.” There should be no unnecessary barriers to a comprehensive response at the federal, state, and local levels to address this growing public health issue.”

Because much of the H5N1 response is being coordinated at the regional and state levels, many aspects of the disease response will continue — including low surveillance, testing and reporting.

At a press conference on Friday, the California state epidemiologist, Erica Pan, and the state veterinarian, Annette Jones, said they expect most of their colleagues in the federal government to continue to support and help.

“CDC partners note that they are… activated for a response, and that they will continue to respond even if there is a government shutdown,” Pan said.

Jones said that before the shutdown, USDA veterinarians and “other professionals” were exempted, “so we would expect and hope that they will be exempted in the same way” this time around.

That said, there may be problems.

“The federal shutdown may delay the ability to confirm H5N1 cases, obtain and report genomic surveillance data, and delay reviews by other national and international partners,” said Rick Bright, an epidemiologist and former head of the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development. Authority. “In many of the suspensions, there are a number of key employees who are still required to come to work. However, most of them are high-level managers, not general laboratory workers.”

Bright said the Health and Human Services secretary “is able to determine priorities that should continue, although this is usually done when there is a declared emergency.”

While Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a bird flu emergency in California, the US government did not.

Bright said state governments and agencies may continue to collect milk samples “but those samples that will be sent to the USDA for testing will not be processed until the government reopens.”

Bryan Richards, an emerging disease coordinator at the US Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center, said in an email Thursday that the National Animal Health Laboratory Network’s laboratories, like the one testing milk at UC Davis, are often run by universities, so it’s likely to remain active.

But it’s unclear whether the National Veterinary Surveillance Laboratory in Ames, Iowa — where confirmed testing for avian influenza in animals currently takes place — will remain open.

It’s unclear whether the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will remain open and, if so, how many people might be employed, Richards said. “I think they are closed except for a few ‘critical’ positions.”

There is also no information shared about the fate of communications workers in these institutions. Currently, the USDA and CDC are providing information to the public about outbreaks, including counts of populations, dairy herds, commercial poultry flocks, wildlife and birds tested for the disease.

On Friday, the CDC reported that 61 people have been infected by the virus in 2024. The USDA Animal Inspection Service reported that 875 dairy herds across 16 states were infected with the virus, including 659 in California.

California has been the hot spot for the H5N1 outbreak, accounting for most of the infected cattle, and more than half of the people who have been sickened by the virus. That’s when the three affected milk producers were quarantined and recalled, and where all wastewater systems were inspected by WastewaterScan – an infectious disease monitoring network led by researchers at Stanford and Emory University, and Verily’s lab testing partner, Alphabet Inc. The health science organization – has shown a positive impact on this virus in the last few weeks.

WastewaterScan samples from 29 sites across the state, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego. There are big gaps in the Central Valley, although the site in Turlock – where there are many dairy processing plants – has had good traffic since August.

The 2024 USDA government shutdown “Emergency Plan” states that there are “external” jobs that will not be affected by the funding freeze. This includes “emergency situations such as the suspension of work would threaten the safety of human life or the protection of property.”

It is unclear whether the federal government considers H5N1 bird flu infections in domestic and wild animals to be “emergencies.”

The same CDC emergency plan has more details, but is still unclear about the fate of bird flu surveillance, testing and investigations.

According to this document, the agency will continue to respond to “emergencies of the public and natural conditions, to manage the most dangerous recalls, to pursue criminal enforcement work and public investigations related to imminent threats to human life … to carry out reason tests of controlled institutions, conduct surveillance of reports of adverse events on issues that may cause harm of a person, and other important activities that support the immediate safety of a person’s life, as appropriate.

In addition, the document states that workers must continue to address “other critical public health challenges, including drug shortages, and outbreaks of food-related and infectious diseases.”

The document notes that more than 40,000 workers may be laid off, while close to 50,000 will continue to work.