The CDC slightly raised its risk assessment of the H5N1 bird flu virus in an Aug. 9 update, noting it poses a future "potential public health risk."
The update is based on a report using the agency's Influenza Risk Assessment tool, which is used to evaluate the future pandemic potential posed by an influenza A virus. As part of the assessment, experts review data and score a virus based on the likelihood that it may gain the ability to spread easily from person to person, and the effect it may have on public health.
The virus's future pandemic potential was scored at 5.79, placing it in the mid-low range of the "moderate risk" category (4.0-7.9). The update "indicates the virus has a moderate future potential pandemic risk when compared to other Influenza A viruses," the CDC said, adding that the current risk it poses to public health remains low.
Three more bird flu updates:
- Since April, there have been at least 13 human cases of avian influenza in the U.S. tied to outbreaks among dairy cows and poultry. Patients affected have generally reported mild symptoms, with no human cases thus far requiring hospitalization.
- Health officials have reiterated that there is currently no evidence the H5N1 bird flu strain infecting dairy cattle in at least 13 states is spreading between humans, though some experts have raised concern that the nation is not conducting enough testing to quickly identify if and when that does occur.
- Nearly 5 million doses of a vaccine believed to be well matched to H5N1 are prepped and ready for delivery, should they be needed, HHS officials told USA Today on Aug. 12. A vaccine factory in North Carolina has been bottling doses throughout the summer.
"An exercise like this gives our partners a chance to exercise that muscle, to make sure that the manufacturing's there," Dawn O'Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, told the news outlet.