Bird Flu Outbreak on Utah Mink Farm Lasts 2 Months, Raising Pandemic Fears

 

Utah agriculture officials learned of the outbreak in mid-August, the report claims, citing communications released under the state's public records law.

The outbreak is concerning because mink can act as an "intermediate host" that helps the virus adapt to humans. They have "lungs and airways that on a cellular level are remarkably similar to those of people; they have caught and spread other flus and infected some humans with COVID-19," according to the outlet.

If humans catch bird flu from this outbreak, it could "spark a pandemic that experts fear could be deadlier than COVID-19," the report says.

According to ProPublica, state veterinarian Amanda Price allegedly turned to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for help but was told there was no approved vaccine or a way to regulate mink. The lack of an official containment protocol or mass culling further allowed the flu to spread.

In a statement to PEOPLE, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said, "APHIS does not have a disease control program for mink, and Congress has not appropriated funding for such a program. While the Animal Health Protection Act gives APHIS authority to conduct disease programs for 'livestock', which is broadly defined as 'all farm-raised animals,' any such program would need to be established and funded. For HPAI [Highly pathogenic avian influenza], APHIS' depopulation and indemnity authorities apply only to domestic poultry."

"In this case, influenza investigations in mink are led by State animal health officials, with USDA providing confirmatory testing through the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL). APHIS also reports confirmed detections through its public reporting systems and to WOAH, consistent with international reporting requirements. While APHIS continues to support surveillance and monitoring efforts, our role is not comparable to the extensive research activities undertaken during the SARS-CoV-2 response, which focused on understanding a virus with significant animal-to-human and human-to-animal transmission potential."

Meanwhile, the farm's owner is suffering. "It has been devastating," Price told ProPublica about how it has impacted owner Chad Fenn. "This is his life's work that he's seeing be destroyed."

She added, "There's just not a lot of options out there other than kind of sitting and waiting and seeing what happens," per the outlet.

The report also claims that officials didn't monitor the mink workers for symptoms, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Citing a study from the New England Journal of Medicine, the report claims eye redness is present in over 90% of cases of bird flu infection, and ProPublica said it tracked a worker who had a red eye. Fenn told ProPublica he allegedly contacted the Utah County Health Department about the red eye, which later cleared up. But there was no official monitoring.

The early human flu season is also a cause for concern, according to the report.

"The most likely scenario for a pandemic is that we have a virus that reassorts with another virus. Obviously, having this circulate amid human flu season is not great," Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, told ProPublica.

Fortunately, the outbreak seems self-contained for now.

"We haven't seen spread off of this farm," she told ProPublica. "We have not had additional cases in Utah that are linked to this, so thus far the verbal hold orders and the measures that have been taken look to be successful: There is not spread happening from this farm from this case."