Avian flu is in Texas. Will H5N1 cause a pandemic? Here's everything you need to know
Is our next pandemic-causing disease already here?
In April, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued a health alert for avian flu, specifically H5N1, after a Texas case in a human was confirmed at the end of March. That human was in direct contact with a diseased dairy cow. The person's main symptom was conjunctivitis, and the person has recovered.
Details about the person and the county where the case occurred are not being made public.
That case was only the second recent case of H5N1 in humans in the United States. A person in Colorado was infected in 2022 after contact with diseased poultry.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local authorities like Austin Public Health are monitoring the situation and watching for H5N1 cases.
Austin Public Health regularly monitors what diseases are showing up in the community, including clinics and hospitals, as well as what is in the wastewater, said Dr. Desmar Walkes, the Austin-Travis County health authority.
So far, it has not found H5N1 in humans in Austin.
Should we be worried about H5N1 avian flu?
This flu has been around for decades. In 1997, an outbreak in Asia caused scientists to create modern pandemic preparedness measures, said Lauren Ancel Meyers, a University of Texas professor in the Department of Integrated Biology, the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences and the Dell Medical School's Department of Population Health.
She also created the Center for Advanced Preparedness and Threat Response Simulation, which creates war games but with pathogens as the threats. Her work has received $27 million from the CDC to develop the infrastructure for better disease prediction.
"It's (H5N1) something I'm worrying about," Meyers said. "I'm keeping on high alert. It's something that could or could not develop into something."
This new outbreak, first in wild birds and poultry and now in cattle, is "hitting closer to home," said Dr. Brian Metzger, medical director of infectious diseases at St. David's HealthCare.
According to the CDC's recent report:
9,296 wild birds have been detected with the disease, including Texas counties but not yet in Central Texas.
90 million poultry in 48 states, including Texas, have had the disease.
33 dairy cattle herds in eight states have been infected, including in Texas, which had 12 of those herds.
Two human cases have been found, both from contact with infected livestock.
Meyers and her team are modeling what the spread from agriculture to humans might look like. It's a complicated model, because like humans, wild birds migrate and cattle move around the country.
"We're trying to wrap our minds around it," she said.
Why might H5N1 not turn into a pandemic?
Public health officials are concerned that H5N1 will adapt and be able to be transmitted from human to human. That has not happened yet. Even in the 1990s, the human cases had some exposure to a diseased animal.
Austin Public Health is waiting for a first case of human-to-human transmission. "That would trigger those response plans," Walkes said, including messages on ways to protect ourselves.
Unlike COVID-19, though, this is a known disease. The current influenza antiviral medications are thought to work on H5N1 and can be given to people who have been exposed to it, even before they have symptoms. We also have a strategic national stockpile of antivirals in case of an outbreak, Walkes said.
Mass production of a vaccine could put vaccinations in arms within months. Right now, manufacturers are not planning to add H5N1 to this this fall's flu vaccine, but they could if cases increase.
"We are in a much better place," Walkes said compared with where we were when COVID-19 emerged.
How is H5N1 spread?
Right now, the virus is spread to humans through a diseased animal. Either someone has touched the animal, its feces or bodily fluids without protective gear such as a mask and gloves and then touched their eyes or mouth or they have breathed in those animal products.
What are the symptoms in humans?
The flu-like symptoms include:
Fever (temperature of 100 degrees or more) or feeling feverish or chills
Cough
Sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Headaches
Fatigue
Eye redness (conjunctivitis)
Difficulty breathing/shortness of breath
Diarrhea
Nausea
Vomiting
Seizures
From previous outbreaks and the current one, the symptoms can be mild or severe, including hospitalization and death. In some outbreaks, the fatality rates have been as high as 50%, Walkes said.
Anyone who has flu symptoms and has been exposed to a sick or dead animal should let their doctor know about that exposure.
What can we do to prevent spreading H5N1?
Don't touch a dead or sick animal. Call animal control at 311.
Don't drink unpasteurized milk or eat unpasteurized cheese.
Continue to do the things we did during COVID-19, including washing your hands frequently.
Don't put your hands in your mouth, nose or eyes.
Cover your cough.
Stay home if you are sick.
Wear a mask if we have a high concentration of illness.
What other diseases are on public health officials' radar?
Regular flu, RSV and COVID-19 cases have been falling since February, but, as in previous years, COVID-19 cases are expected to rise this summer after graduations, summer events and increased travel.
Learn more: End of an era: Austin Public Health changes COVID-19 reporting policy
Three other categories of diseases are worrying infectious disease specialists:
The highly contagious diseases like measles, mumps and polio for which we vaccinate children. Lower vaccination rates have meant outbreaks continue to happen. People who don't have a health care provider can get their vaccines through Austin Public Health's vaccine clinics, austintexas.gov/department/immunizations or by calling 512-972-5520.
The bacterial sexually transmitted illnesses, such as syphilis, that have increased because of a shortage of penicillin-based injections.
The mosquito-borne illnesses. Climate change is causing a change in the types of mosquitoes we get in the United States. Last year, Florida had homegrown, not travel-related, malaria. Metzger worries other mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya fever could hit Texas.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Should we be worried about avian flu in Texas? What to know about H5N1
