“Bird Flu H5N1: Not Chaos, but Conspiracy?” By Alexander Pruss Two months ago, I was puzzled how bird flu, potentially capable of killing tens of millions, went rampant on American livestock farms and began infecting workers, yet no urgent measures were being taken. Even standard epidemiological threat monitoring was happening unsystematically, with months-long delays, and results weren’t being made public for months afterward. What happened to the bitter lessons from the coronavirus pandemic? Why such chaos? Since then, the sense of criminal inaction has only intensified. Missouri discovered the first outbreak of human cases unrelated to farm workers, but molecular testing was neglected and infection paths remained undiscovered.
In California, a more pathogenic variant of bird flu spread to hundreds of dairy farms, reportedly killing up to 15% of cows, with almost daily new cases of virus transmission to humans. The virus apparently came to California through cattle transportation from Idaho, despite belatedly introduced rules formally prohibiting the transport of infected cows across state lines. The problem was that infection in transported cows was checked through selective testing, and as reported, the sampling wasn’t random: before government testing, farmers secretly tested cows for bird flu in private laboratories and selected only healthy ones for official testing. Here’s the continuation of the translation:
A new Vanity Fair investigation shows this isn’t random chaos. The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) has been blocking research and data about the new infection in America’s dairy herds from the start to protect the multi-billion-dollar American dairy export industry and the interests of giant national dairy processing companies. The idea was simple: most cows recover after a few weeks, and while the bird flu virus does get into milk in huge quantities, it should die during pasteurization. Therefore, the economic losses from the pathogen aren’t that severe. However, if consumers in America and especially abroad raise the alarm, it could result in much greater dollar losses. USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack knows this firsthand: before his government appointment, he worked as president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
And immediately after it was finally discovered in March 2024 that dairy farms in Texas and Kansas were hit by bird flu, veterinarians and state officials began receiving calls from personal mobile phones of USDA veterinary institute workers: “we’re officially forbidden to discuss this problem without permission from the very top, and unofficially we’re asking you to keep quiet about it too.” But what about the danger that the virus, having settled in mammals and especially humans, could recombine with our seasonal flu viruses and produce hybrid viruses that combine the infectious and pathogenic potential of human viruses with immunity to our regular antibodies inherited from their avian ancestor?
This, generally speaking, isn’t USDA’s concern. This alarm was raised by the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response (OPPR), created in 2023, under the leadership of military doctor and biosecurity expert Paul Friedrichs. In early April, dairy industry representatives raised concerns that some upstart from the White House was muddying the waters. USDA’s response was their new policy of official secrecy. Secretary Vilsack responded only a month later to state veterinarians’ inquiries about the sudden communication breakdown, and his response was essentially a brush-off. And his ally in Texas, state agriculture commissioner Sid Miller, even hinted that if Friedrichs’ people stick their noses into Texas farms, they might be met with bullets.
A number of veterinarians who disagreed with USDA’s actions soon lost their jobs, and the country fell into an atmosphere of “work-to-rule,” where veterinary authorities appear to be doing their job, but as slowly as possible and with all the red tape that can be justified by regulations. Meanwhile, flu season is approaching, and encounters between bird and human flu in people infected with both viruses are inevitable in the near future.
I forgot to add that by May, a vaccine for bird flu became available for cows, but the USDA chose not to use it.
Sounds similar to the kind of logic that makes salmonellosis 10x more frequent in America than in Europe.
On one hand, yes, the optimal number of people dying from farm-produced diseases is greater then zero, and overreaction could cause net harm.
On the other hand, it feels like the final decision should be made in some way better than “the farmers lobby declares the topic taboo, and enforces the taboo across the nation”, because the one-sided incentives are obvious.
“Bird Flu H5N1: Not Chaos, but Conspiracy?” By Alexander Pruss
Two months ago, I was puzzled how bird flu, potentially capable of killing tens of millions, went rampant on American livestock farms and began infecting workers, yet no urgent measures were being taken. Even standard epidemiological threat monitoring was happening unsystematically, with months-long delays, and results weren’t being made public for months afterward. What happened to the bitter lessons from the coronavirus pandemic? Why such chaos? Since then, the sense of criminal inaction has only intensified. Missouri discovered the first outbreak of human cases unrelated to farm workers, but molecular testing was neglected and infection paths remained undiscovered.
In California, a more pathogenic variant of bird flu spread to hundreds of dairy farms, reportedly killing up to 15% of cows, with almost daily new cases of virus transmission to humans. The virus apparently came to California through cattle transportation from Idaho, despite belatedly introduced rules formally prohibiting the transport of infected cows across state lines. The problem was that infection in transported cows was checked through selective testing, and as reported, the sampling wasn’t random: before government testing, farmers secretly tested cows for bird flu in private laboratories and selected only healthy ones for official testing. Here’s the continuation of the translation:
A new Vanity Fair investigation shows this isn’t random chaos. The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) has been blocking research and data about the new infection in America’s dairy herds from the start to protect the multi-billion-dollar American dairy export industry and the interests of giant national dairy processing companies. The idea was simple: most cows recover after a few weeks, and while the bird flu virus does get into milk in huge quantities, it should die during pasteurization. Therefore, the economic losses from the pathogen aren’t that severe. However, if consumers in America and especially abroad raise the alarm, it could result in much greater dollar losses. USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack knows this firsthand: before his government appointment, he worked as president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
And immediately after it was finally discovered in March 2024 that dairy farms in Texas and Kansas were hit by bird flu, veterinarians and state officials began receiving calls from personal mobile phones of USDA veterinary institute workers: “we’re officially forbidden to discuss this problem without permission from the very top, and unofficially we’re asking you to keep quiet about it too.” But what about the danger that the virus, having settled in mammals and especially humans, could recombine with our seasonal flu viruses and produce hybrid viruses that combine the infectious and pathogenic potential of human viruses with immunity to our regular antibodies inherited from their avian ancestor?
This, generally speaking, isn’t USDA’s concern. This alarm was raised by the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response (OPPR), created in 2023, under the leadership of military doctor and biosecurity expert Paul Friedrichs. In early April, dairy industry representatives raised concerns that some upstart from the White House was muddying the waters. USDA’s response was their new policy of official secrecy. Secretary Vilsack responded only a month later to state veterinarians’ inquiries about the sudden communication breakdown, and his response was essentially a brush-off. And his ally in Texas, state agriculture commissioner Sid Miller, even hinted that if Friedrichs’ people stick their noses into Texas farms, they might be met with bullets.
A number of veterinarians who disagreed with USDA’s actions soon lost their jobs, and the country fell into an atmosphere of “work-to-rule,” where veterinary authorities appear to be doing their job, but as slowly as possible and with all the red tape that can be justified by regulations. Meanwhile, flu season is approaching, and encounters between bird and human flu in people infected with both viruses are inevitable in the near future.
I forgot to add that by May, a vaccine for bird flu became available for cows, but the USDA chose not to use it.
Sounds similar to the kind of logic that makes salmonellosis 10x more frequent in America than in Europe.
On one hand, yes, the optimal number of people dying from farm-produced diseases is greater then zero, and overreaction could cause net harm.
On the other hand, it feels like the final decision should be made in some way better than “the farmers lobby declares the topic taboo, and enforces the taboo across the nation”, because the one-sided incentives are obvious.
Also, bird flu is an international risk and other countries may sue US if it fails to prevent virus’ evolution in obviously foreseeable way.