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California Gov. Gavin Newsom Declares State of Emergency Over Bird Flu, Calling It a ‘Proactive Action’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation on Wednesday in response to growing concerns over bird flu cases in the state and across the country. The State of Emergency proclamation comes after more bird flu cases were detected in Southern California dairy cows, the governor’s office stated. Wednesday also saw the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the first severe illness in a person due to bird flu from a Louisiana case.
“This proclamation is a targeted action to ensure government agencies have the resources and flexibility they need to respond quickly to this outbreak,” Newsom said in a statement. As health and public officials note, to date there have been no recorded cases of person-to-person spread of bird flu in California.
Newsom also noted that California has already implemented an effort to combat bird flu by working with dairy and poultry farms to minimize farm worker exposure. Many of the confirmed cases of bird flu are linked to dairy and poultry workers, health officials have said. “While the risk to the public remains low, we will continue to take all necessary steps to prevent the spread of this virus,” Newsom said in a statement.
Health Officials Say Louisiana Patient Is First Severe Bird Flu Case in US
A person in Louisiana has the first severe illness caused by bird flu in the U.S., health officials said Wednesday. The patient had been in contact with sick and dead birds in backyard flocks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Agency officials didn’t immediately detail the person’s symptoms. Previous illnesses in the U.S. had been mild and the vast majority had been among farmworkers exposed to sick poultry or dairy cows.
This year, more than 60 bird flu infections have been reported, with over half of them in California. In two — an adult in Missouri and a child in California — health officials have not determined how they caught it. The CDC confirmed the Louisiana infection on Friday, but did not announce it until Wednesday. It’s also the first U.S. human case linked to exposure to a backyard flock, the agency said.
Opinion: The Junk Food Industry Is Targeting Our Children
A gummy candy shimmies on stage, dancing to “Flashdance.” The music swells, it pulls a chain and is showered in multi-colored candies. The ad, for Nerds Gummy Clusters, was one of dozens of food ads that 123 million people saw during the 2024 Super Bowl. While the nostalgic soundtrack entertained adults, the cartoon candies are engineered to appeal to a different audience: children.
And it works. Following the ad, my four-year-old shouted, “NERDS! Mom, can we buy them?!” Two weeks later, the ad’s influence was still palpable when she begged for them in the supermarket. A 30-second commercial seems harmless. However, new research from my lab shows that food marketing to kids is more than a nuisance: it’s a key driver of poor diets. Food marketing impacts what kids like, buy and eat — increasing the risk of dental caries, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Like tobacco, tighter regulation of junk food marketing to children is needed to protect their health.
This week, a bill introduced in the Senate, the Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act, proposes a crucial step forward by proposing limits on the types of techniques used to target kids (for example, dancing animated candies) as well as limits on where such ads can appear (e.g., on television programs and websites heavily viewed by children).
The bill would cut kids’ exposure to the most harmful types of food marketing — which is imperative, because they are currently surrounded by it. Companies spend $14 billion each year on marketing to children, over 80 percent of which is for fast food and other ultraprocessed foods like snacks, candy and sodas.
CDC Can’t Confirm Suspected Bird Flu Case Tied to Raw Milk
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could not confirm what was suspected to have been the first H5N1 bird flu case linked to raw milk consumption. The patient, a child in Marin County, California, experienced fever and vomiting after drinking raw milk, as reported last week. The child initially tested positive for influenza A, with the local lab unable to find evidence of person-to person transmission between the child and her family members.
The State Laboratory and the CDC conducted additional testing, “but due to low levels of viral RNA, they were unable to confirm whether the influenza A virus present was H5N1 (avian influenza) or seasonal influenza,” according to the Marin County public health department.
“The sample was negative for all flu targets,” Kevin Griffis, director of the CDC’s office of communications, told STAT on Thursday. A Marin County public health officer suggested that the amount of virus in the initial test sample had been already low and may have degraded to an undetectable level by the time it got to the CDC lab.
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Is Fake Meat Good to Eat? Processed Plant-Based Meat Alternatives Linked to Depression Risk in Vegetarians
There is mounting evidence suggesting that ultraprocessed foods are bad for our health; but if you stick to a vegetarian diet, is that still the case? Plant-Based Meat Alternatives (PBMA) are considered to be ultra-processed foods and may be associated with similar harms.
In the first study of its kind, published in Food Frontiers, researchers from the University of Surrey found that vegetarians who consumed PBMAs had a 42% increased risk of depression compared to vegetarians who refrained from PBMAs. The study, which was led by Hana Navratilova, analysed data from the U.K. Biobank and found no notable differences in intake of sodium, free sugar, total sugar, or saturated fatty acids between those vegetarians who ate PBMAs and those who did not.
Flu Surveillance Flags Probable H5 Avian Flu Case in Delaware
An H5 avian flu case that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently added to its probable list was initially flagged by routine flu surveillance.
In other developments, federal officials confirmed more H5N1 detections in dairy cows, poultry flocks, and a few non-farm mammals, and Labcorp announced the launch of its molecular test for the virus in people.
Tim Mastro, deputy director of communications with Delaware Health and Social Services, said in an email that the state’s Division of Public Health identified a possible case of novel H5 during routine surveillance at the state public health lab, which immediately contacted the CDC for confirmation testing and guidance. After multiple tests on the sample, the CDC notified Delaware health officials that it couldn’t confirm the novel influenza A in the case.
The CDC had said a few days ago that the infection meets the case definition for a probable case and that there is no defined exposure. The CDC has now reported seven probable cases. The six others involve people who had exposure to cows or poultry. The number of lab-confirmed infections since the start of the year remains at 60, which includes 2 with unknown exposure.
USDA’s Investigation Into Tyson Foods Has Collected Thousands of Documents. Would Donald Trump End It?
Despite remaining tight-lipped about its investigation into Tyson Foods, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has collected nearly 18,000 related documents. However, some worry the inquiry could end under the next Trump administration.
In August, Investigate Midwest reported that the nation’s largest poultry processor was under investigation by the USDA’s Packers and Stockyard Division, the office that enforces longstanding regulations meant to protect livestock producers from unjust practices. The current investigation follows Tyson’s sudden closure of several meatpacking plants last year, which left many poultry farmers in debt and facing bankruptcy.
While the USDA has not publicly confirmed the investigation, former Tyson contract growers have acknowledged being approached by federal investigators.
Tyson Foods declined to comment.
