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A day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had yet to identify “a clear source” of infection in a Missouri patient who tested positive for the bird flu virus, the agency quietly disclosed in its weekly influenza report that a close contact was sick around the same time as the Missouri patient but was not tested for influenza. A CDC spokesperson said in an email Friday the close contact was within the household of the Missouri patient and developed symptoms that weren’t typical of flu. The simultaneous development of symptoms, the spokesperson said, doesn’t provide evidence of person-to-person spread. Additionally, a second close contact — a health care worker — subsequently developed mild symptoms and tested negative for influenza. (Lovelace Jr., 9/12)

A patient in Missouri who was hospitalized after an infection with bird flu had the H5N1 strain of the virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Friday. The viral sequence was uploaded Friday to the GISAID database, which makes genetic sequences of viruses publicly available for research and study. It shows that the virus is closely related to the strain that has been infecting dairy cattle in 14 states this year. (Goodman, 9/13)

The number of California dairy herds reported to have outbreaks of H5N1 bird flu has grown to eight. Officials have refused to disclose the locations of the infected herds, but have said they are in close proximity somewhere in California’s Central Valley — an 18,000-square-mile expanse that is roughly the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. (Rust, 9/13)

More work needs to be done by the agricultural sector to get to the bottom of — and put a stop to — transmission of H5N1 bird flu in dairy cattle in the United States, a senior World Health Organization official said over the weekend. Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s acting director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, said the world is watching how the U.S., with its advanced scientific expertise, is responding to this outbreak. (Branswell, 9/16)

Even as the Covid wave in Florida continues, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is once again advising against the mRNA vaccines: this time in the most vulnerable residents. In updated guidance for health care providers released Thursday, the Florida Health Department and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo questioned the safety and effectiveness of the mRNA Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, including for older adults and people with underlying health problems. (Lovelace Jr., 9/13)

COVID-19 activity stayed elevated across the United States last week, with wastewater SARS-CoV-2 detections highest in the West, where levels are trending upward again, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest weekly data updates. Levels are highest in the central states, which include Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. (Schnirring, 9/13)

A National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report recommends five actions to transition the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS)—developed as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic—to a forward-looking version for both endemic and emerging pathogens. One of the recommendations was to "strategically add more endemic pathogens, namely respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza, to SARS-CoV-2 routine surveillance." (Van Beusekom, 9/13)

The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that it has prequalified Bavarian Nordic's mpox vaccine (Jynneos), which paves the way for wider use in Africa's widening mpox outbreak. Also today, the agency unveiled a mechanism for allocating vaccines and treatments among the outbreak countries. That group now include Morocco, which reported its first case, making it the first affected country this year in North Africa. (Schnirring, 9/13)