In a recent release, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted, “The best way to prevent H5N1 bird flu is to avoid sources of exposure whenever possible.  For people who must have direct or close contact with infected or potentially infected animals help limit exposure to avian influenza viruses using CDC recommendations including personal protective equipment.”

This recommendation may have seemed appropriate sitting in an office in Atlanta away from the reality of dead birds, dust and feathers.  More likely it was Bowdlerized by HSS functionaries attempting to impose distortions and omissions in scientific reality through CDC releases.

If the USDA continues to conduct depopulation as a measure of control for avian influenza, field workers, many illiterate and uninformed of the risks of exposure, will be required to operate under hot conditions and in close contact with dead and dying birds. Despite being provided with masks and respirators, PPE may not be correctly used. Up to 80 workers were infected with H5N1 on dairy and poultry farms in 2024.  Surveillance is minimal and the extent of infection is probably understated.

Surely all workers coming into contact with dairy herds in areas of high prevalence and especially involved in depopulation of infected flocks, should receive the available H5N1 human vaccine in addition to the seasonal trivalent human influenza immunization.  Allowing susceptible workers to come into contact with high levels of H5N1 virus increases the risk of emergence of a mutant, zoonotic strain with human-to-human transmission or initiating the possibility of a recombinant event.