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A Michigan dairy worker has been infected with a highly virulent bird flu, the second human case in less than two months of the H5N1 virus circulating among dairy cows. Federal officials said Wednesday that the case does not change their assessment that the risk to the general public remains low. But in a sign of increased urgency, they announced additional financial incentives for dairy producers to expand testing of cattle and accelerated the timetable to ready nearly 5 million doses of vaccine in case the virus becomes more widespread among people. (Sun and Roubein, 5/22)

Less than a month ago, researchers reported for the first time the ability to scan wastewater for signs of the H5 influenza virus currently sickening dairy cows in at least nine states across the U.S. That technology is now at the threshold of real-world use. (Molteni, 5/22)

In early March, Dr. Blake Hanson and his colleagues at the Texas Epidemic Public Health Institute were preparing for a fire drill of sorts. What if a virus with the potential to spark the next pandemic turned up in the wastewater they monitor? And what if that virus was the bird flu, H5N1, which has killed millions of animals and about half the nearly 900 people it has infected worldwide over the past two decades? (Goodman, 5/22)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Clues From Bird Flu’s Ground Zero On Dairy Farms In The Texas Panhandle

In early February, dairy farmers in the Texas Panhandle began to notice sick cattle. The buzz soon reached Darren Turley, executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen: “They said there is something moving from herd to herd.” Nearly 60 days passed before veterinarians identified the culprit: a highly pathogenic strain of the bird flu virus, H5N1. Had it been detected sooner, the outbreak might have been swiftly contained. (Maxmen, 5/23)

Response (ASPR) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said officials are moving forward with a plan to produce 4.8 million doses of H5N1 avian flu vaccine for pandemic preparedness. (Schnirring, 5/22)

Health officials in Australia's Victoria state reported the first human H5N1 avian flu case in the country, which involves a child who contracted the virus in India and was sick in March. In a statement, the Victoria Department of Health said the child had a severe infection but has fully recovered. The H5N1 strain that infected the child isn't the same as the one fueling outbreaks in the United States, health officials said, noting that H5N1 had never been detected in animals or people in Australia before. (Schnirring, 5/22)