In the United States, researchers are calling on the government to warn of the lack of screening tests for H5N1 avian flu, which could be dramatic in the event of a pandemic, specifying that the situation is reminiscent of that at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- In the United States, to avoid a health crisis, researchers are alerting the government to the lack of screening tests for H5N1 avian flu.
- They compare current mistakes (not systematically screening) to those made at the start of the Covid-19 crisis.
- Several factors explain this situation: few authorized tests, significant investment by laboratories, unknowns about reimbursement.
Learn from the past, so as not to make the same mistakes. This is what several researchers are asking the American government to do. In the media, they are warning about the lack of screening tests for H5N1 avian flu, even though the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced a new case on May 30.
The same mistakes as at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic
““We are making the same mistakes today as with Covid”indicated Deborah Birx, the former coordinator of the anti-Covid strategy under the presidency of Donald Trump, on June 4 CNN .
Transmission of the disease usually occurs through direct contact with an infected animal.To date, all confirmed human cases of avian influenza have involved direct contact with infected poultry, and the very rare cases of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus have remained episodic.“, note Pasteur Institute. But, in the event of a pandemic, contamination could be between humans.
For Deborah Birx, more people should be tested because many cases remain asymptomatic.We have the technologies for, she assures. Again, we are only looking for symptomatic cases. When we did that with Covid, the virus spread.“The fear is therefore that, as with Covid-19, bird flu will spread without the authorities knowing about it, due to a lack of testing.
For now, a screening test is being used, that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But it only concerns people who work in contact with farm animals, when they have symptoms.
“We need to know when [la pathologie est présente] on the farms, but we have no information because we don’t look“, for lack of testing therefore, underlines Helen Chu, specialist in infectious diseases at the University of Washington, in Seattle, in MedicalXpress.
Reasons for the lack of bird flu screening tests
Several obstacles explain this situation:
- Slow deployment of tests (which was also the case during Covid-19).
- A reluctance of some laboratories to make significant investments to develop these tests when profitability is uncertain.
- Unknown regarding insurance company reimbursement for testing outside of flu season.
- The authorization (not yet obtained from the FDA for other private laboratories) to carry out screening tests using eye swabs, while that of the CDC is based on this technique, more effective than other methods (swabs from the nose or throat).
“We absolutely must prepare ourselves, says Alex Greninger, deputy director of the University of Washington’s clinical virology laboratory. But until the government takes responsibility, it is difficult to move in this direction.”
