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Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf warned lawmakers Wednesday that unless the United States initiates countermeasures to stem the spread of avian influenza, the government may be ill-prepared to respond if the virus mutates and spreads among humans. While the risk to the general public remains low, he told Senate appropriators in charge of FDA funding that investment to clamp down on the spread of the virus among cattle and poultry would pay dividends. (Lim, 5/9)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended this week that dairy and poultry farms with infected animals supply protective gear to workers in a bid to stave off human transmission of the H5N1 virus. The challenge now is making it happen. (Owermohle, 5/10)

Even as it has become increasingly clear that the bird flu outbreak on the nation’s dairy farms began months earlier — and is probably much more widespread — than previously thought, federal authorities have emphasized that the virus poses little risk to humans. Yet there is a group of people who are at high risk for infection: the estimated 100,000 men and women who work on those farms. There has been no widespread testing to see how many may be infected. None have been vaccinated against bird flu. (Mandavilli, Qiu and Anthes, 5/9)

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to post data on influenza A found in wastewater in a public dashboard possibly as soon as Friday that could offer new clues into the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in cattle herds. CDC wastewater team lead Amy Kirby told Reuters on Thursday that the agency has identified spikes of influenza A, of which H5N1 is a subtype, in a handful of sites and is investigating the source. She said there is no indication of human infection with H5N1. (Steenhuysen, 5/9)

In early March, Dr. Barb Petersen, a large-animal vet in Texas, began getting calls from the dairy farms she works with in the Panhandle. Workers there were seeing a lot of cows with mastitis, an infection of the udder. Their milk was thickened and discolored, and it couldn’t be explained by any of the usual suspects such as bacteria or tissue damage. (Goodman and Kounang, 5/9)

Seven more groups involved in poultry production have signed on to an international effort to reduce the use of antimicrobials on poultry farms. The organizations, which include poultry associations from several European countries and fast-food giant Yum! Brands, announced yesterday that they'll adopt principles developed by the Transformational Strategies for Farm Risk Output Mitigation (TRANSFORM) project to ensure the proper use of antimicrobials on poultry farms. (Dall, 5/9)