The United States is zero on the ground for the H5N1 bird flu.
Since March 2024, when the virus has been reported for the first time in a dairy herd in Texas, the virus A killed a persondisease scores, contaminate the country's food supply, Leaving dozens of home pets,, infected more than 900 dairy herds in 16 statesAnd caused the death of millions of wild animals and chickens, ducks and commercially raised turkeys.
Thus, how President Trump and his administration will deal with this widespread and potentially fatal virus, which, according to scientists, is only one or two mutations to become a full -fledged human pandemic, is a question of many health officials and infectious illness experts now.
And so far – say that some who will make the file of their concerns – things do not seem promising.
Trump on Monday published a decree that will withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization – a 76 -year -old international agency created, in part, to share data and information on global pandemics.
He also closed the Pandemic Board of the White House of the Biden era, which was ordered by the Congress to rationalize and coordinate the nation's response to emerging pandemics, such as avian flu. Since the training of the office in 2023, he initiated Multi-aging efforts coordinated “testing” the nation “S Preparation for new epidemics of diseases and has provided advice and coordination concerning the development and availability of vaccines among various health agencies, such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration. Wednesday morning, a visit to the office website showed an error message “404 pages not found”.
And Tuesday evening, the news announced that the Trump administration provided instructions to a number of agencies from the Ministry of Health and Social Services to put a “break” on all health communications. The ministry did not answer questions about the problem.
However, a note from a human services spokesman for a Times journalist on a different subject noted that the agency “published a break on mass communications and public appearances which are not directly linked to emergencies or essential to the preservation of health”.
The spokesman said that the break was temporary and set up to allow the named people of the new administration “to set up a revision and prioritization process”.
Experts say that even if we are still in the first week of the new administration, and that things could change, these developments do not bother for a transparent and timely response to the growing crisis of avian flu.
“More cases of H5N1 occur in the United States than in any other country,” Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University in Providence, RI “in health break at a time when states are unleashed to contain this virus is dangerously poorly adopted.
Experts also say that the measures of the new administration could lead to the economic and social isolation of many Americans. Other nations may start to question the health and safety of exported agricultural products, such as dairy products, livestock, poultry and meat, as well as the health of Americans who wish to travel internationally.
“I can predict countries to slap travel and commercial restrictions in the United States, this will affect millions of Americans,” said Lawrence Gostin, legal researcher at the University of Georgetown.
Although WHO generally does not support travel restrictions or commercial prohibitions, independent nations may require such measures. In January 2020, Trump temporarily suspended entry to all non -American citizens from China.
Other nations said Gostin, could take similar measures if the United States is not transparent or do not communicate openly information on the H5N1 epidemic. And without siege at the WHO negotiation table, where new pandemic directives are currently being drawn, the United States can be outside.
“With our withdrawal, we would give in the influence of leadership” for China and other American opponents, said Gostin – exactly the opposite of what we should do for such a precarious moment for a potentially emerging pandemic. “When the next managing director (WHO) is elected, it will be China that will pull the strings-not the United States,” he said. “Our opponents will establish the global rules that we will have to live in.”
Trump's decision to withdraw the United States of the WHO is based on two of its convictions: first, that the organization has poorly managed the coco-19 and second pandemic, that it invoices in the United States too much money-“far from the proportion with payments evaluated by other countries,” said Trump in the United States in his decree.
Between 2015 and 2024, the WHO billed the United States between $ 109 million and $ 122 million per year. This represents 22% of all contributions to members, making the United States the greatest contributor to the organization.
But it is not only isolationist movements and the potential loss of diplomatic strength and influence that worry experts and health officials.
Movements to eradicate offices designed to rationalize the nation's response to bird flu and directives to “take a break” of communications on this subject, suggest either ignorance or voluntary blindness to the way H5N1 – and all zoonotic diseases – move in the environment and potentially harm people, said Matthew Hayek, Deputy Professor of Environmental Studies at from New York.
The Trump administration “has a real opportunity to come and think of this virus and to change the way we manage these problems of these types,” he said-noting that the tanned and flat-foot response from the Biden administration, which allowed the virus to propagate practically without control through the country's dairy herds for months. Instead, “at its appearance, it will not happen. It seems that these first disturbing stages with regard to public health agencies Museau move in the opposite direction. And to double on evil does not fall asleep, to see no harm, do not speak any diabolical strategy of the Biden administration “will simply aggravate.
The American Department of Agriculture intends to continue to update its H5N1 website because the samples are tested and confirmed, according to Lyndsay Cole, agency spokesperson. Thursday, two new dairy herds in which there have been positive tests for the bird flu were added to the agency “Situational update” Website for H5N1.
John Korslund, a retired scientist from the USDA, said that he was not yet too worried. He said it usually takes a few days or weeks when a new administration is online for things to settle.
However, “in the case of H5N1, the new administration indicated less support for formal pandemic preparation activities,” he said, as evidenced by Trump's withdrawal from WHO and the trigger of the White House Pandemic office. The movements, he added, “can indicate less support for the Trump administration for prolonged federal surveillance efforts and response for H5N1 infections in humans and animals.”
He said the virus will probably have to constitute a more imminent threat before this new administration decides to provide “important federal activities or dollars”.
Nuzzo, the researcher at Brown University, accepted.
“The Trump administration will not have the choice to act on H5N1-The virus continues to weaken people and livestock and mounts our grocery bills,” she said. “The question is not whether the Trump administration will act to fight H5N1, but when and how many lives and livelihoods will be injured before they act.”
Staff editor Emily Alpert Reyes contributed to this report.
